Over the main section of the tournament, a total of 839,192 fans went through the gates in Melbourne, beating the previous best of 812,174.

Another 63,120 spectators attended events during qualifying, meaning the overall total from the three weeks was 902,312.

Tournament director Craig Tiley said he was surprised at the growth return so soon after the problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We thought there would not be as quick a recovery from COVID as there has been," said Tiley to Australian publication The Sunday Age.

He added that the customer satisfaction rate was higher than in 2020 - its most successful year before now.

On January 21, the day of the third round in the singles, the one-day attendance record was broken too, with 94,854 fans attending.

Tournament organisers noted this mark was made without Chinese tourists, due to travel restrictions still existing in China.

Organisers are aiming for over one million visitors in future.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic defeated Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas in the men's singles final, while Aryna Sabalenka defeated Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina in the women's singles.