FRIDAY night's thriller between Geelong and Hawthorn became the highest rating game of the season with a combined peak audience of 1.919 million free-to-air viewers on the Seven Network.
The game was a classic with Hawthorn triple-premiership player Isaac Smith missing a chance to win the game when his post-siren kick went across goal and through for a behind.
WATCH: The thrilling final two minutes
The Cats won the game by two points to move into the preliminary final, while the Hawks will play the Western Bulldogs in a cut-throat semi final.
It was also the highest-rating audience on Fox Footy with 442,000 viewers tuning in, while the figures don't take into account viewers who streamed the game to their mobile devices on the official AFL Live app.
It adds to a great start to the finals series with 1.564 million free-to-air viewers tuning into the historic Thursday night game between West Coast and the Western Bulldogs on the first night of the finals.
That game, which the Bulldogs won by 49 points, also attracted 420,000 viewers on Fox Footy, according to ratings data released Friday morning.
The AFL is likely to be buoyed by the figures after it introduced a controversial bye between round 23 and the first week of the finals.
On Saturday, crosstown rivals, the Sydney Swans and Greater Western Sydney clash in a qualifying final at ANZ Stadium in a final for the first time while, Adelaide is at home to North Melbourne.
