SS19 and 20: Martin doubles up

Perhaps the highlight of the stages was the chance to witness Sebastien Loeb go head-to-head against Petter Solberg, continuing the pair's day-long battle for the lead of the event. Whilst Loeb remains atop the leaderboard, he was beaten by his Norwegian rival on both runs, although it only did 0.4s damage to his lead. This means that the Citroen ace heads into the event's final day with an advantage of exactly five seconds.

Tommi Makinen received a massive cheer from the crowd, as they celebrated his final appearance in Australia before his retirement. The Finn was in feisty mood, beating Richard Burns in his heat and setting the second fastest time on SS19 in the process.

All the leading runners made it through the stage safely, although Didier Auriol lost time when he stalled on the startline at the beginning of his second run. The large crowd got to see one retirement, when Australian Group N runner Ed Ordvnski crashed out on the stage.