Volkswagen’s Sebastien Ogier has extended his overnight lead after the first half of day two of Rally Australia around Coffs Harbour on the NSW north coast.

The Frenchman headed in to the second day with a 20-second buffer over Citroen driver Mikko Hirvonen after winning seven of Friday’s eight stages.

After two stages on Saturday – including the longest in the rally of 49.9km – he was 27.6sec ahead of three-time Rally Australia winner Hirvonen.

Ogier can secure his maiden World Rally Championships (WRC) title this weekend if he collects nine points more than closest rival, Ford’s Thierry Neuville, who is currently in third place in the round 10 event, 32 seconds behind Hirvonen.

Hirvonen and Ogier were closely matched through much of the Nambucca stage before Ogier pulled 5.3sec clear in the closing section.

“It almost felt like he was playing with us,” said Hirvonen.

“Our split times showed we were one second up, then one second down, back and forth like that for most of the stage, and then he pulled three seconds in one split. We had a near miss towards the end and then took it a bit more cautiously.

“All we can do now is try to keep the pressure on him and see what happens. I don’t think it’s going to be enough to beat him. I just can’t make any mistakes.”

Ogier denied that he was toying with his rival.

“I was not playing with him, but I did try to copy his rhythm and not push too much. That was enough,” he said.

“At the moment everything is going perfectly for us.”

Coffs Coast local Nathan Quinn continues to hold down ninth place after a solid debut in the Motorsport Italia-prepared Mini John Cooper Works.

In his first-ever drive of a WRC car, he’s nearly seven minutes behind Ogier, but a full minute ahead of WRC regular Khalid Al Qassimi (Citroen) who rounds out the top 10.

Crews will have a break in Coffs Harbour for service before heading out to repeat the two early stages – Nambucca and Valla (14.84km) – before they return to the city for the final two runs.