AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role

The AACTA is a non-profit organisation, whose aim is to "identify, award, promote, and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements in film and television".

[2] From 1971 to 2010, the category was presented by the Australian Film Institute (AFI), the academy's parent organisation, at the annual Australian Film Institute Awards (known as the AFI Awards).

Candidates for this award must be female, and cannot be nominated for the same role in the supporting actress category.

[A] The actress in bold and in dark blue background have received a special award; those in bold and in yellow background have won a regular competitive award.

When sorted chronologically, the table always lists the winning actress first and then the other nominees.