Race

And Stoner has done it! He crosses the line to clinch his sixth and final Australian MotoGP to wild roar of crowds.

Stoner is in the last lap and has 8secs on Lorenzo!

Rossi is back in seventh fighting off the challenge of Hayden. He's looking over his shoulder. Maybe they'll really go for it on the last lap

Three laps left and here are the standings: Stoner, Lorenzo, Crutchlow, Dovizioso, Bautista, Bradl, Rossi

Stoner heads around the hairpin with four laps to go. This is the spot he crashed during the qualifying but he appears to have it well under control today.

In the last seven races Lorenzo has been second on six occasions. He has been consolidating over the season.

Six laps to go and we have: Stoner, Lorenzo and Crutchlow in the top three places. Stoner has slowed up ever so slightly, clocking a 1min31.5.

Bautista has done it, and slipped by Dovizioso into fifth spot.

Roby Rolfo is now out of the race too, leaving just 15 riders left. As long as Lorenzo doesn't come dead last he has the title in the bag.

Dovizioso and Bautista are battling it out in fifth and sixth spots. Bautista is taking it quickly around the bends but he can't quite catch him

Stoner is looking comfortable now, leading Lorenzo by almost 5secs.

Pedrosa's comments to press: "Maybe it was too early to push."

If Stoner wins this he and Valentino Rossi will be the only two riders to have won their home GP six times – Rossi won Italy seven times.

The cameras are alternating between the race and Pedrosa in the pits, who is now giving comments. He must be devastated.

We have 12 laps to go. At the end of the last lap Stoner was well and truly ahead of Lorenzo - near to 4secs. He has it in the bag at this stage.

And he goes past Bautista too and is chasing Crutchlow who's been holding securely onto third spot

And Bradl surges past Dovisioso to fifth place

End of lap 11 we have: Stoner, Lorenzo, Crutchlow, Dovizioso, Bautista, Bradl, Rossi.

Stoner is blitzing the field, lapping close to 1min30 to finish lap 10

Stoner is blitzing the field, lapping close to 1min30 to finish lap 10

Despite throwing away time to Stoner, Lorenzo looks to seal the world championship anyway. Because of Pedrosa's unfortunate end to this race Lorenzo needs only to finish 14th, which is entirely plausible

Lorenzo has a wee wobble as he comes around the third bend, aka Stoner's Corner.

Brit rider James Ellison has crashed out, but is OK

At the end of lap 6 we have Stoner, Lorenzo, Crutchlow, Dovizioso, Bautista, Bradl, Rossi...

Crutchlow is stretching out the gap between him and the pack with 21 laps to go

Lorenzo is now over a second behind the Aussie speedster, and the battle for third place is between Yamahas and Hondas as Crutchlow and Dovizioso are followed closely by Bautista and Bradl

Stoner is flying here... he pulled in at the end of lap 3 with a 1min30.1, two tenths slower than he qualified.

Stoner remains in the lead, but Pedrosa has seen the end of his slim chance at coming back in Valencia to snatch the title off Lorenzo. Big disappointment for the Spaniard

Pedrosa's bike looked to fold away from him as he attempted to slip around the outside of Stoner

CRASH!! Pedrosa is down!

At the end of lap 1 we have Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Stoner, Crutchlow, Dovizioso

Pedrosa comes from nowhere at the hairpin and is making his attentions very clear. The big three are out in front and looking unstoppable

And we're off! Lorenzo pulls out in front of Stoner and Pedrosa early on

The bikes pull up back on the grid for the start below blue skies

The bikes are off on the final warm-up lap now... we're getting close...

Row 3 has Bautista, Rossi, De Puniet.

Row 2 is Crutchlow, Bradl, Dovisioso

In row 1 we have Stoner Lorenzo and Pedrosa

Lorenzo and Pedrosa both have six wins this season. The last rider to win the world championship while NOT winning the most races in that season was Nicky Hayden, who sealed only two wins in 2006 (Rossi topped the tally that year with five wins). A rider has never won seven or more races in a season and not been world champion.

The Stoner v Pedrosa clash aside, if Lorenzo wins here or takes second place to Stoner he has sealed his second world title. Buckle up for an excellent race!

But Stoner will have to face a formidable challenge in Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa. The Spaniard has been in remarkable form with six race wins this season, his best yet. And with Lorenzo’s lead in the driver standings having dwindled to just 23 points, Pedrosa will want victory here so he can head to the final race in Valencia with a chance (albeit a small one) at clinching his first world championship.

Yesterday in qualifying Stoner shrugged off his bad ankle and an early crash to take pole position for today’s race, his fifth this season.

The bikes are on the grid and the tension building as a rendition of the Aussie anthem gears up a whopping crowd.

Stoner has won the Grand Prix on home soil in all of the last five years, and he will be eager to make it a record six – he currently shares the most Australia wins with Valentino Rossi - before locking up his bike for good.

It’s all about Casey Stoner this weekend, and no doubt most Australians have their poms poms out ready to cheer him on as he undertakes his sixth and final assault in what have turned out to be picture-perfect conditions.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Australian MotoGP race at Phillip Island.