The #268 Audi R8 was put under investigation for a potential restart procedure breach, which was deferred to a post-race review.

The source of the investigation was believed to be whether Peroni maintained the 80 km/h speed limit after the Safety Car returned to the pit lane.

Peroni said during the race that he maintained his speed and was confident he would not be penalised.

The final classification confirmed Peroni and Rosser had escaped punishment.

They finished just a few car lengths ahead of the Melbourne Performance Centre-run #7 Audi of Brendon Leitch/Tim Miles, while the sister #888 car of Broc Feeney and Brad Schumacher wound up third.

“Oh god, that was terrible to watch,” said Peroni.

“I feel for the team having to watch every race like that. It’s a lot better being inside [the car].

“Credit to Mark, credit to the team as I said before. They gave us an amazing car this year as they have done pretty much all year.

“It feels good, and it feels good to do it on pace like that. We were unlucky in the end but it could have been a bigger gap.”

Rosser added: “I was a bit nervous there. I don’t know if MPC called for [Garry] Higgon to beach it out there.

“Maybe I was a bit worried knowing Tim was pretty fast this weekend too. He made me work for it.”

From the start, Peroni got the jump from pole position while the David Wall-driven Lamborghini Huracan dropped back almost immediately.

Jayden Ojeda shot from fourth to second while Broc Feeney and Brendon Leitch slotted into third and fourth respectively.

Aaron Love threatened to bring out the first Safety Car when he spun across the apex of Turn 4 and forced another car wide. Fortunately, everyone escaped unscathed.

Darren Currie dropped his Mercedes-AMG into the gravel at Turn 1, which brought out the first Safety Car intervention early on.

The race resumed with 46 minutes to go, which was the source of the investigation for the restart procedure.

There was very little change at the head of the field until the compulsory pit stops.

There were dramas for the #1 Volante Rosso Aston Martin, which stalled with an apparent electrical issue.

Peroni pitted and handed over the #268 Team BRM Audi over to co-driver Mark Rosser, who returned to the lead of the race with a 10-second lead.

Behind him, Aaron Love gave the #77 Ferrari 296 to Stephen Wyatt who shot from fifth to second in the order.

Jayden Ojeda handed the #66 Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG over to Paul Lucchitti, who dropped to third.

Behind them came the #7 Audi of Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles and the #888 Broc Feeney/Brad Schumacher Audi.

Lucchitti threw away a potential podium finish when he dive-bombed Wyatt into Turn 3 and skated through the gravel before spinning on the grass.

That gifted Miles third, who had a pace advantage over Wyatt. Third became second with 14 minutes to go when the Audi put a pass on the Ferrari at Turn 4.

There was drama with a little more than 10 minutes to go when Garry Higgon spun the #24 Audi at Turn 1 and beached his car in the gravel.

That whittled down Rosser’s lead from 11 seconds to just a few car lengths.

The race restarted with just under six minutes to go. Rosser led an Audi one-two-three with the two Ferraris in tow.

It was a short-lived green flag run after Talbot spun his car at Turn 3 after contact with the Ojeda/Lucchitti Mercedes-AMG. With his car parked across the apex, the yellow flag flew.

For that clash, Talbot was given a drive-through penalty, which translated into a 33-second penalty.

That set up a dash to the flag. Ultimately, Rosser held off a hard-charging Miles. Schumacher was third ahead of the Love/Wyatt and Jaxon Evans/Elliott Schutte Ferraris.

GT World Challenge Australia resumes on July 25-27 at Sandown Raceway.