The Frenchman came into the final day of the rally with a 20.3-second lead over teammate Elfyn Evans.

The fourth leg comprised just three stages – and by the end of it, Ogier’s lead had only come down to 18.5 seconds.

Hyundai driver Adrien Fourmaux was the surprise packet of Sunday, taking third place away from a fading Ott Tanak who slipped to fifth by the end of the day.

Kalle Rovanpera wound up fourth after Tanak’s sluggish close to the rally.

“It’s amazing to win this rally for the 10th time: it makes me incredibly happy and proud,” said Ogier.

“This rally is the one that gave me the dream to be a rally driver, so if I could pick only one to win in a season, it would always be this one.

“This year it’s been a huge fight up until the very last stage.

“We had changing conditions, difficult tyre decisions and pressure right until the end so I’m glad we managed to keep it under control.

“We definitely had some moments but to win this rally I think you always need a bit of luck too. It’s a perfect start to the year for the team so we couldn’t ask for anything more.”

After a wretched start to the rally, Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville consolidated to finish sixth.

Toyota suffered two DNFs courtesy of Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari, who both crashed out on the final day.

“All in all it was a challenging weekend for us,” said Neuville.

“It went wrong from the braking in the hairpin on Friday, and then the combination of our road position and the conditions today that didn’t favour us.

“Today there was less ice than expected, and cars were going faster on slick tyres – it was a difficult Sunday.

“We can optimistic about what’s coming next in Sweden; we will have a better road position and hopefully a better rally because of it, but we still need to make the most of it.”