The rally consisted of 35 special stages and was won on the road by Citroën's Sébastien Loeb.

However, Loeb's win was short-lived as his Citroën along with those of his teammate Dani Sordo, and Sébastien Ogier were given one-minute time penalties for irregularities with their cars' anti-rollbars.

This was the first time in the season that Petter Solberg and co-driver Phil Mills did not compete in their privately entered Citroën Xsara WRC since Rally Ireland.

One week before the rally, protesters unsuccessfully filed an injunction against the event in an effort to stop it.

[citation needed] Following the cancellation of the CTEK East stages, New South Wales police announced that they would prosecute those responsible as public nuisances.