By Garry Maddox
Like a good thriller, the country's leading film and television awards have finished with a dramatic surprise.
The top prize at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards – best film – was a tie between Russell Crowe's hit drama The Water Diviner and the acclaimed-but-little-seen horror pic The Babadook.
With voters among the academy's 1733 members unable to split the two films, it was the first time in the almost four decades of best film being awarded that two contenders have shared the prize.
While the result was a talking point among the industry crowd after the awards, academy chief executive Damian Trewhella insisted it was "not unprecedented", citing past AFI votes in other categories and the tie at the Producers Guild of America Awards between Gravity and 12 Years A Slave last year.
"I take this result as a mark of considered voting by our academy members," he said.
Crowe beamed when he heard the news in a live cross to the set of the crime thriller The Nice Guys in Los Angeles.
"It's an amazing thing," he said. "On behalf of an incredible cast crew - two countries, Australia and Turkey - it means a lot to us that the effort we put in has been recognised."
The just-as-delighted writer-director of The Babadook, Jennifer Kent, said it was "really wonderful" to have the film recognised. After a disappointing release in Australian cinemas, it has been acclaimed internationally in recent months.
"All I have is gratitude for how far and wide this film has travelled and how many people it's reached and touched in quite a deep way," Kent said.
The stylish awards, hosted in Sydney's The Star by Cate Blanchett and Deborah Mailman with guests including Mia Wasikowska, Jacqueline McKenzie, Richard Roxburgh, cricketer-turned-actor Brett Lee and Italian soccer star Alessandro Del Piero, delivered other surprises as well.
Sarah Snook, who played a gender-changing time-traveller in the sci-fi thriller Predestination, won best actress over bookmaker's favourite Essie Davis, who was a nursing home worker confronting a dark threat in The Babadook.
"It's been the wildest ride, something I will treasure forever" Snook said from the US, where she is shooting the bio-pic Steve Jobs with Michael Fassbender. "I don't know when I'll get to play a man again."
With Crowe missing a best director nomination for The Water Diviner, Kent won for The Babadook over the favoured Rolf de Heer for the indigenous drama Charlie's Country.
While the lack of female directors in Hollywood has long been contentious, she was the fifth woman to win best director in the past 12 years – after Sue Brooks (Japanese Story), Cate Shortland (Somersault), Sarah Watt (Look Both Ways) and Elissa Down (The Black Balloon).
Crowe, who played a farmer trying to track down his missing sons after World War I in The Water Diviner, might have won the top prize but lost out for best actor.
It went to veteran David Gulpilil, who played an Aboriginal elder struggling to deal with modern life in Charlie's Country. He has previously won an AFI award for The Tracker, after being first nominated for Storm Boy in 1977.
The film came about after de Heer visited the actor while he was in a Darwin prison for a drunken assault. They decided a drama that drew on Gulpili's life would give him a project when he was released.
Gulpilil described Charlie's Country as his story. "It's about the lost generation, living in the gutter and homeless, " he said.
Yilmaz Erdogan, the Turkish actor-director-poet who charmed as Major Hasan in The Water Diviner, won best supporting actor.
"We are kind of relatives," he said of the two countries who are recovering from World War I in the film. "We were enemies who became friends."
In another surprise, Susan Prior, who played a vet in the post-apocalyptic drama The Rover, won best supporting actress over favourite Erin James, who was sign language interpreter in the racy comedy The Little Death.
The Little Death had six actors up for awards – the film's only nominations – but none of them won.
The Babadook collected a third award when Kent claimed best original screenplay, with Frank Cottrell Boyce and Andy Paterson winning best adapted screenplay for the prison-camp-survivor-drama The Railway Man.
Predestination was the most recognised film with four awards, including best cinematography, production design and editing at the technical ceremony on Tuesday.
Although The Lego Movie missed a nomination at the Oscars, it won best visual effects or animation.
The first AACTA Trailblazer Award went to Rose Byrne, whose American successes have included Bridesmaids and Damages, with tributes from co-stars Kristen Wiig and Glenn Close.
The lifetime achievement award, re-named the Longford Lyell Award to honour film pioneers Raymond Longford and Lottie Lyell, went to Andrew Knight, who co-wrote The Water Diviner and has written and produced such TV shows as Fast Forward, SeaChange and The Broken Shore.
"This almost makes up for missing out on the Australia Day knighthood I was expecting," he quipped.
The Byron Kennedy Award went to rising young filmmaker Amiel Courtin-Wilson, best known for the documentary Bastardy and the features Hail and Ruin, for his "risk taking and evocative storytelling".
The ABC dominated the television awards with The Code winning best drama series and Utopia claiming best comedy series.
Ashley Zukerman won best actor in a television drama for playing fellow nominee Dan Spielman's computer hacker brother in The Code, while Marta Dusseldorp was named best actress for another ABC drama, Janet King.
The Nine Network's Hamish and Andy's Gap Year South America won best light entertainment series and The Voice, also on Nine, won best reality TV series.
Best telefeature or mini-series was The Devil's Playground – a television sequel all those years after the original film – on Foxtel's Showcase.
BEST FILM
THE BABADOOK Kristina Ceyton and Kristian Moliere tied with THE WATER DIVINER Andrew Mason, Keith Rodger and Troy Lum
BEST DIRECTION
THE BABADOOK Jennifer Kent
BEST LEAD ACTOR
David Gulpilil CHARLIE'S COUNTRY
BEST LEAD ACTRESS
Sarah Snook PREDESTINATION
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Yilmaz Erdogan THE WATER DIVINER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Susan Prior THE ROVER
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
THE BABADOOK Jennifer Kent
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE RAILWAY MAN Frank Cottrell Boyce and Andy Paterson
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
PREDESTINATION Ben Nott
BEST EDITING
PREDESTINATION Matt Villa
BEST SOUND
THE ROVER Sam Petty, Des Kenneally, Justine Angus, Brooke Trezise, Francis Ward Lindsay and Robert Mackenzie
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE
THE RAILWAY MAN David Hirschfelder
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
PREDESTINATION Matthew Putland
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
THE WATER DIVINER Tess Schofield
LONGFORD LYELL AWARD – Andrew Knight
BYRON KENNEDY AWARD – Amiel Courtin-Wilson
AACTA TRAILBLAZER AWARD – Rose Byrne
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS OR ANIMATION
THE LEGO MOVIE – Chris McKay, Amber Naismith, Aidan Sarsfield and Grant Freckelton
BEST CHILDREN'S TELEVISION SERIES
THE FLAMIN' THONGS Colin South and Keith Saggers – ABC3
BEST TELEVISION COMEDY SERIES
UTOPIA Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Michael Hirsh and Rob Sitch – ABC
BEST LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION SERIES
HAMISH & ANDY'S GAP YEAR SOUTH AMERICA Tim Bartley, Sophia Mogford, Frank Bruzzese and Ryan Shelton – Nine Network
BEST REALITY TELEVISION SERIES
THE VOICE AUSTRALIA Julie Ward – Nine Network
BEST TELEVISION DRAMA SERIES
THE CODE Shelley Birse, David Maher and David Taylor – ABC
BEST TELEFEATURE OR MINI SERIES
DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND Helen Bowden, Penny Chapman, Blake Ayshford and Simon Burke – FOXTEL - Showcase
BEST DIRECTION IN A TELEVISION DRAMA OR COMEDY
THE CODE Episode 1 Shawn Seet – ABC
BEST DIRECTION IN A TELEVISION LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT OR REALITY SERIES
BLACK COMEDY Episode 3 Beck Cole and Craig Anderson – ABC
BEST SCREENPLAY IN TELEVISION
PLEASE LIKE ME Episode 2/07: Scroggin Josh Thomas – ABC2
BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A TELEVISION DRAMA
Ashley Zukerman THE CODE – ABC
BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION DRAMA
Marta Dusseldorp JANET KING – ABC
BEST GUEST OR SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A TELEVISION DRAMA
Eamon Farren CARLOTTA – ABC
BEST GUEST OR SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION DRAMA
Chelsie Preston Crayford THE CODE Episode 1 – ABC
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TELEVISION COMEDY
Debra Lawrance PLEASE LIKE ME – ABC2
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN TELEVISION
THE BROKEN SHORE Martin McGrath – ABC
BEST EDITING IN TELEVISION
THE CODE Episode 1 Deborah Peart– ABC
BEST SOUND IN TELEVISION
ANZAC GIRLS Episode 6: Courage Tom Heuzenroeder, Des Kenneally, Belinda Trimboli and Pete Best – ABC
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE IN TELEVISION
THE CODE Episode 1 Roger Mason – ABC
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN IN TELEVISION
CARLOTTA Murray Picknett – ABC
BEST COSTUME DESIGN IN TELEVISION
CARLOTTA Jenny Miles – ABC
BEST SHORT ANIMATION
GRACE UNDER WATER Anthony Lawrence
BEST SHORT FICTION FILM
FLORENCE HAS LEFT THE BUILDING Mirrah Foulkes and Alex White
BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY
UKRAINE IS NOT A BROTHEL Kitty Green, Jonathan auf der Heide and Michael Latham
BEST DOCUMENTARY TELEVISION PROGRAM
TENDER Kath Shelper – ABC
BEST DIRECTION IN A DOCUMENTARY
ALL THIS MAYHEM Eddie Martin
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A DOCUMENTARY
SONS & MOTHERS Aaron Gully and Maxx Corkindale
BEST EDITING IN A DOCUMENTARY
ALL THIS MAYHEM Chris King
BEST SOUND IN A DOCUMENTARY
SONS & MOTHERS Des Kenneally, Will Sheridan, Pete Best and Scott Illingworth
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE IN A DOCUMENTARY
ALL THIS MAYHEM Jed Kurzel