Live Blog - Day 3: afternoon

This is what it's all about: brilliant, challenging roads and equally matched performance cars.

It's the Victorian high country that reveals whether the cars that excelled on the track can actually work in the real world: Nissan's GT-R is one of the contenders that amazed at Phillip Island, yet today it has to mix it with potholes, traffic and touring.

That's where the SLS may come in, or more likely its more affordable stablemates, the CLS 63. Audi's RS5 should be a solid all-rounder with its new adaptive dampers, while the Porsche Panamera Turbo S - the flagship four-door from Stuttgart - has the comfort, style and legs to carve up road kays yet is a track favourite among the judges too.

The challenge is two-fold this afternoon: getting enough time in each machine and savouring the moment, while crossing our fingers that the rain holds off. It has sprinkled on and off all day, which has prevented Ponch from spelling out 'YMCA' from the Audi R8 Spyder as often as he'd like, and these roads are challenging enough. Corner after corner takes concentration, but the reward after linking a set of curves is there for the taking.

A chilly Lake Mountain, with its daunting, eerily bushfire scarred landscape, proves the perfect scenario for sorting out crusiers from corner carvers without the luxury of a smooth track surface, as well as playing 'living' with each car for a fleeting moment.