Sebastien Ogier heads into the final day of the 10th round of the World Rally Championship in Australia on the verge of defending his title.
The Frenchman leads the way by 0.3 seconds from Britain's Kris Meeke (Citroen) going into Sunday.
Volkswagen driver Ogier - who holds a 93-point lead over team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala in the championship with 112 points available - only needs to ensure the Finn does not cut that gap by nine points to claim a third consecutive championship.
Latvala had led the way after the opening eight stages on Friday, however, Meeke gained time on the Finn on the first two stages of the day - won by Hyundai's Hayden Paddon - to move into first place.
But Ogier gained 1.5 secs on Meeke courtesy of a stage-11 triumph and then earned the lead on Saturday's final stage, which took place at night and forced the drivers to endure poor visibility.
Hanging dust also had an impact on the middle of the stage and, Ogier - given the benefit of an earlier start than Meeke - duly took advantage.
He went 2.7 secs quicker than Meeke, who emerged from his car visibly angry and has five stages to overturn the deficit on Sunday and seal his second win of the campaign.
Latvala is 2.6 secs behind in third, with Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen) fourth ahead of Paddon.