Hannah Gadsby has won the 2017 Barry Award for the most outstanding show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for Nanette.
She beat five other contenders for the coveted award which was announced late on Saturday night at the Festival Club along with a slew of other awards.
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Gadsby used her acceptance speech to hit back at comments from MICF founding patron Barry Humphries, for whom the award is named.
Humphries, who made a career out of playing a woman called Dame Edna Everage, earlier this year referred to transgender women as "mutilated men".
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Gadsby said she respected Humphries as a comedian but disagreed with his recent comments. Instead she paid tribute to satirist John Clarke, who died two weeks ago.
Nanette is a raw, powerful and emotional hour of stand-up comedy that cleverly tackles difficult topics like gendered violence and homophobia. Age arts editor Debbie Cuthbertson gave it five stars.
But in a bittersweet twist, Gadsby, who starred in the popular ABC TV series Please Like Me, has said the show will be her last before she quits stand-up and returns to her home state of Tasmania.
She will however take the show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August, and has added an encore show next weekend at the Comedy Theatre – a much larger venue than the room she played at the Melbourne Town Hall during MICF.
The Barry win was third time lucky for Gadsby, who has been nominated for the award twice before.
Her competitors this year included fellow Australian comedians Sammy J, Anne Edmonds, Damien Power and Tom Walker; and British performer Richard Gadd.
Walker had etched a tattoo on his arm prior to the ceremony which read "Barry Award Winner 2017".
Fingers crossed! pic.twitter.com/BpCJnEdO0D
— TOM (@tomwalkerisgood) April 18, 2017
Among the other awards announced on the night there was more than one surprise tie.
The Best Newcomer Award was shared by Aaron Chen'sThe Infinite Faces of Chenny Baby and Angus Gordon's Sad Boy Comedy Hour. The prize guarantees them both a run at London's Soho Theatre.
And the People's Choice Award, which goes to the show that has sold the most tickets, was tied between Wil Anderson's Critically Wil and Judith Lucy and Denise Scott's Disappointments. It's the sixth year Anderson has won the prize.
While missing out on the Barry, Damien Power took home the Pinder Prize for his show Utopia: Now in 3D!. It secures him a run at the Edinburgh Fringe.
The Golden Gibbo Award for a groundbreaking independent work went to A Visit With Nan in a Caravan, a short, intimate show that takes place in an actual caravan.
The comedians' choice Piece of Wood Award went to Luke Heggie for Rough Diamante, and the Directors' Choice Award, presented by MICF director Susan Provan, went to Demi Lardner for Look What You Made Me Do.
The 2017 Melbourne International Comedy Festival is on until April 23.
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