Frijns led the field during a final hour economy test, building to a tense showdown with Jamie Whincup and Earl Bamber.

However a huge crash between Audi driver Ash Walsh and Mercedes driver John Martin with 20 minutes to go led to the race ultimately being suspended, the clock ticking down to zero as crews were parked on the front straight waiting for a restart.

As a result the #37 WRT Audi was declared the winner, ahead of the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes (Whincup/Tristan Vautier/Kenny Habul/Raffiele Marciello).

The first of the key moments of the final quarter of the race came just half an hour in, when the scrap for third turned into a melee at Forrest's Elbow.

It started when Chaz Mostert (#43 Schnitzer BMW) got into the back of Estre in the #991 Craft-Bamboo Porsche on the way out of the dipper. Then, as the pair tried to squeeze past a Class B Porsche on the run onto Conrod, more contact led to Mostert wiping out Kane in the #17 Bentley, who was a few metres down the road.

Estre managed to sneak through largely unscathed, diving straight into the pits to hand over to Earl Bamber. Kane and Mostert also got back to the garage, but were left well and truly out of contention for victory, while the #42 Class B Porsche was left hanging out of the wall.

With the crashed Porsche cleaned up, the race restarted with 2h20m to go. David Fumaneli led the field in the #55 Strakka Mercedes, but ran wide and immediately handed it over to Markus Winkelhock in the #74 Audi.

In keeping with the theme of the day, the green running was short-lived. The 14th Safety Car period quickly followed when the #777 Buik Lamborghini lost a wheel, Fumaneli pitting and handing second over to Frijns.

The race restarted with two hours left to run, the two Audis bolting as Whincup held on in the Mercedes.

But just as that was shaping up to be the main battle pack, the game changed again. This time it was heartbreak for the leading Audi, Winklehock left stranded on The Mountain due to a drivetrain issue with a little over 90 minutes to go.

His race was over, and the resulting Safety Car saw Frijns, Whincup, and Bamber head to pits with a stint and a bit to go.

Frederic Makowiecki took over the lead when the race restarted with 80 minutes left to run, but needing to pit again. The likes of Frijns, Whincup, and Bamber, however, were close to being able to run to the end.

With 45 minutes left, Makowiecki made that stop, leaving Frijns out front. Fifteen minutes later it was still Frijns leading Whincup and Bamber, with the race having boiled down to a test of economy.

The final twist in the tale came with 20 minutes to go. Having clashed with a backmarker, Ash Walsh was left stranded across the track on the run to McPhillamy. He was then hit at full-speed by John Martin who arrived unsighted, causing the 16th Safety Car period of the day.

The caution eased fuel concerns, but even cruising around behind Safety Car the leading crews were worried. The intrigue deepened with 11 minutes to go when the red flag was flown, drivers advised to pull up on the grid and teams told not to work on the cars.

While the cars stopped, the clock kept ticking. In the end it ran out before the race could be restarted.

Behind the top two, the #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche (Marc Lieb/Luca Stolz/Jeroen Bleekemolen/Tim Pappas) won the Pro-Am class with third outright. Like the #12 Competition Porsche behind it, an outright victory could have been on the table had the race run its course.

The #991 and #911 entries capped off a remarkable day for Porsche with fifth and sixth respectively.

Walsh's Audi was declared the winner of the Am class despite the nasty crash.

In terms of the classes, it was the #4 Grove Motorsport Porsche that triumphed in Class B. Despite a pair of spins and a drive-through penalty, the Ben Barker/Stephen Grove/Brenton Grove had almost three laps up its sleeve by the end.

Class C went the way of the Boat Works BMW M4 GT4, Tony Longhurst/Aaron Seton/Matt Brabham over three laps clear of the M Motosport KTM driven by Glen Wood/Trent Harrison/Cody Hill.

The #91 MARC II completed a top-to-bottom domination of the Invitational class.

Cla	#	Class	Driver/Codriver	Car	Laps	Gap
1	37	PRO	Robin Frijns   Dries Vanthoor   Stuart Leonard   Alessio Rovera	Audi R8 LMS	271
2	75	PRO	Raffaele Marciello   Kenny Habul   Tristan Vautier   Jamie Whincup	Mercedes AMG GT3	271	1.5369
3	540	PRO-AM	Marc Lieb   Jeroen Bleekemolen   Tim Pappas   Luca Stolz	Porsche 911 GT3 R	271	30.6599
4	12	PRO-AM	Patrick Long   David Calvert-Jones   Alex Davison   Matt Campbell	Porsche 991 GT3R	271	32.0599
5	991	PRO	Earl Bamber   Kevin Estre   Laurens Vanthoor   Hisashi Kunie   Kimihiro Yashiro	Porsche 911 GT3 R	271	57.5656
6	911	PRO	Romain Dumas   Earl Bamber   Dirk Werner   Alfred Renauer   Dennis Olsen	Porsche 911	271	1'20.2840
7	55	PRO-AM	Nick Leventis   Lewis Williamson   David Fumanelli   Cameron Waters	Mercedes AMG GT GT3	271	1'29.9376
8	29	PRO-AM	Ivan Capelli   Ryan Millier   Dean Canto   Jim Manolios	Lamborghini Hurracan	270	1 lap
9	100	PRO	Timo Glock   Philipp Eng   Steven Richards	BMW M6 GT3	270	1 lap
10	69	AM	Theo Koundouris   Tim Slade   Duvashen Padayachee  Stepan Krumilov   James Koundouris	Audi R8 LMS	269	2 laps
11	47	PRO-AM	Scott McLaughlin   Andrew Watson   Fraser Ross   Alexander West	McLaren 650s GT3	269	2 laps
12	8	PRO-AM	Craig Baird   Tony D'Alberto   Max Twigg   Daniel Keilwitz	Mercedes AMG GT3	268	3 laps
13	32	PRO-AM	Roger Lago   David Russell  Steven Owen	Lamborghini Gallardo R-EX	267	4 laps
14	39	PRO-AM	Pedro Lamy   Paul Dalla Lana   Mathias Lauda   Will Davison	Audi R8 LMS	267	4 laps
15	19	PRO-AM	Mark Griffith   Liam Talbot   David Reynolds   John Martin	Mercedes GT	266	5 laps
16	17	PRO	Jules Gounon   Steven Kane   Guy Smith	Bentley Continental GT3	265	6 laps
17	4	B	Ben Barker   Stephen Grove   Brenton Grove	Porsche GT3 Cup	260	11 laps
18	91	I	Keith Kassulke   Rod Salmon   Will Brown	MARC II V8	258	13 laps
19	85	B	Charles Espenlaub   Charles Putman   Adam Christodoulou  Joe Foster	Porsche 911 GT3-Cup	257	14 laps
20	21	B	Danny Stutterd   Sam Fillmore   Andrew Fawcet	Porsche 911	256	15 laps
21	6	AM	Hadrian Morrall   Richard Gartner   David Wall   John Bowe	Lamborghini Gallardo	256	15 laps
22	30	C	Matt Brabham   Aaron Seton   Tony Longhurst	BMW M4	250	21 laps
23	77	C	Lindsay Kearns   Colby Cowham   Richard Verburg   Charlie Robinson	Ginetta G55	246	25 laps
24	49	C	Glen Wood   Cody Hill   Tent Harrison	KTM X-Bow GT4	245	26 laps
25	93	I	Grant Denyer   Garry Jacobson   Tyler Everingham	MARC Mazda V8	244	27 laps
26	33		Frank Stippler   Dimitri Parhofer   Rémi Terrail   Dirg Parhofer   Isaac Tutumlu Lopez	MARC Mazda V8	243	28 laps
27	22	PRO	Garth Tander   Kelvin van der Linde   Fredrick Vervisch	Audi R8 LMS	241	30 laps
28	56	PRO	Alvaro Parente   Maximillian Buhk   Maximillian Goetz	Mercedes AMG GT GT3	237	34 laps
29	13	C	Cameron Lawrence   Kuno Wittmer   Daren Jorgensen   Brett Strom	BMW M4 GT4	188	83 laps
30	44	C	Dean Grant   Xavier West   Cameron Hill	BMW M4 GT4	162	109 laps
31	66	I	Alex Riberas   Edward Lewis Brauner  Ben Schoots   Adam Macrow   Michael Caine	Dodge Viper	162	109 laps
32	65	I	Jamie Augustine   Rhys Howell   Dylan Thomas	Daytona Coupe	145	126 laps
	11	PRO-AM	Tony Walls   Warren Luff   Tim Slade   Jaxon Evans	McLaren 650s	260	11 laps
	95	I	Bryce Fullwood   Jules Westwood   Geoff Taunton   Jason Busk	MARC Focus V8	244	27 laps
	74	PRO	Markus Winkelhock   Christopher Haase   Christopher Mies	Audi R8 LMS	238	33 laps
	777	PRO-AM	Tomas Enge   Christopher Mies   Luke Youlden   Yasser Shahin	Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 REX	219	52 laps
	43	PRO	Augusto Farfus   Marco Wittmann   Chaz Mostert	BMW M6 GT3	217	54 laps
	40	B	Aaron Zerefos   Garry Mennell   Kean Booker   Mark Caine	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	193	78 laps
	88	C	Mike Simpson   Daniel Desbrueres   Jaie Robson   Ben Walsh	Ginetta G55	133	138 laps
	54	I	Kenny Habul   Kyle Alford   Chad Parish	MARC II V8	123	148 laps
	58	PRO	Shane van Gisbergen   Côme Ledogar   Craig Lowndes   Jose Close   Wolfgang Haugg	McLaren 650s GT3	119	152 laps
	67	I	Jake Camilleri   Morgan Haber   Claudio Cappelli   Aaron Cameron	MARC II V8	87	184 laps
	46	C	Jörg Viebahn   Nico Verdonck   Max Braams   Marco Schelp	Porsche Cayman PRO4	84	187 laps
	23	B	Paul Tresidder   Chris van der Drift   Andrew Tang   Chen Yi-Fan	Porsche 991	82	189 laps
	3	AM	Ash Samadi   Daniel Gaunt   Manuel Metzger   Dylan O'Keeffe	Audi R8 LMS	66	205 laps
	18	PRO	Andy Soucek   Maxime Soulet   Vincent Abril   Rick Abresch   Finlay Hutchison	Bentley Continental GT3	58	213 laps
	82	PRO-AM	Roman Rusinov  Andrew Bagnall   Matthew Halliday   Johnny Reid	Audi R8 LMS	41	230 laps
	9	PRO-AM	Marc Cini   Dean Fiore   Lee Holdsworth   Ricardo Feller   Christer Jöns	Audi R8 LMS	41	230 laps
	48	C	Justin McMillan   Caitlin Wood   David Crampton   Timothy Macrow	KTM X-Bow GT4	31	240 laps
	96	I	Peter Major   Jordan Love   John Goodacre	MARC Focus V8	0