With four rounds of the World Rally Championship remaining, the two Frenchmen are locked in a battle for the title, with seven-time  champion Loeb leading Ogier by 25 points.

Ogier, who won the Rally of Germany in August after ignoring team orders to let Loeb take the race, won the first special stage held in the picturesque town of Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales north coast by seven seconds.

Loeb struck back to take the second stage from Ogier by one second, giving Ogier a six second advantage heading into Friday.

Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala was third in his Ford Fiesta, 2.8 seconds back, with fellow countryman and teammate Mikko Hirvonen fourth, 5.9 seconds off the pace.

Ogier conceded that the real race would begin on Friday when the  rally heads to the country on all-gravel roads.

“It was a good start but the real start is tomorrow,” he said.

“It was quite slippery and not easy to find the right rhythm. The car is good so I'm happy.”  

Loeb said he was also satisfied with the low-key start to the event.

“It was okay. I did quite a good stage, which is very specific compared to the rest of the rally,” he said.

“But it was really slippery, particularly on hard gravel tyres.” 

The two Frenchman will have to be wary of third placed Latvala, who was fastest in practice on the country roads earlier on Thursday.

Latvala said he would head into Friday’s stages full of confidence.

“I was a bit stressed by how (the grip) was going to be,” Latvala said.

“In a couple of places it was slippery on the braking but generally better than expected.

“I will go to bed with a smile.”  

The race takes in eight special stages on Friday.