Ogier kept his cool as Finnish teammate Jari-Matti Latvala tried to catch up over the final three Special Stages and arrived at the official finish in Coffs Harbour a mere 6.8sec ahead after 313km of fierce competition over three days - including legs at Bellingen, Urunga, Valla and Nambucca.

Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen came home 11.8sec behind in third spot, securing Volkswagen’s first 1-2-3 in the WRC.

The 23rd Rally Australia was hailed as the most successful since the event moved to NSW in 2009. Big crowds packed the spectator stages - particularly on Saturday at Newee Creek - throughout the weekend, while organisers celebrated confirmation of a return date on September 10-13, 2015.

Several drivers said the roads were among the best in the 13-country WRC tour.

The Volkswagen Polo R’s 19th win from 23 WRC starts ensured the German team wrapped up the manufacturers' title in record time, with three events still to run in this year’s season.

In an emotional speech at a post-event press conference, team chief Jost Capito dedicated the win to every Volkswagen employee.

Ogier’s sixth win of the season - and 15th with Volkswagen - moved him closer to a second straight Championship crown. He has a 50-point buffer over Latvala and would love to wrap it up at his home round in France next month, as he did last year.

The Frenchman acknowledged his victory in Rally Australia 2014 was not achieved with the same dominance as last year, when he came home 1m 32sec ahead of Thierry Neuville, then with Ford.

“This year it wasn’t possible to have that. Jari-Matti was strong but I knew that without mistakes I would be okay,” he said.

“It wasn’t a big winning margin but enough to win the rally and another crucial step towards winning the title.”

Latvala held a slender lead on Saturday until fate smiled on Ogier. Rain was forecast but Ogier opted for a harder compound tyre than his teammate.

The rain didn’t eventuate and Latvala’s softer tyres overheated in the warm weather. At the end of that stage, Ogier had gone from four seconds down to nine seconds ahead and Latvala could not regain the advantage.

“It has been a great fight. I’ve had highlights leading the rally and overall I enjoyed it despite making the wrong tyre choice,” Latvala said.

“There is still a chance for the championship, although it is a lot more difficult now.”

While the leading Volkswagen drivers fought over the top two positions, their colleague Mikkelsen spent the first two days of the event fighting tooth and nail with Citroën’s Kris Meeke for the final podium place.

Then the Irishman was penalised more than a minute after cutting a corner illegally during Saturday’s stages and the Norwegian was able to cruise to his fourth podium for the year.

Meeke’s penalty initially dropped him behind Mikko Hirvonen’s Ford Fiesta RS, but the Citroën star was on a mission in his DS3 WRC and he fought his way back across the day, eventually relegating the flying Finn to fifth, 9.6sec in arrears.

In the WRC2 category, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Ford Fiesta RRC) was first home and 11th outright, Jari Ketomaa (Ford Fiesta R5) was second and 12th outright, and Yuriy Protasov (Ford Fiesta RRC), third in his category, and 13th in the overall results.

While Rally Australia also served as a round of the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship, several Australian crews nominated to contest the event under WRC regulations.

Matt Van Tuinen and his Subaru Impreza WRX STi finished 17th outright, just under 29 minutes behind Ogier, while Adrian Coppin and his Citroën DS3 came home in 19th, 44 minutes behind the winner.

Enjoy the photo gallery from the rally as it raged through Newee Creek at the weekend.