"At the third stroke" welcoming midnight on September 30, time was officially up for Australia's Talking Clock.

Sorry, this audio has expired Giving the audience the pips

Telstra's decision to shut down the service brought an end to a 66-year run that allowed Australians to dial 1194 and hear the time — down to the exact second.

Less than a fortnight on, the much-loved clock has been resurrected.

Well, sort of.

"George", as the clock was known, has found a new home on the internet thanks to Melbourne musician Ryan Monro, who has a sense of nostalgia and a penchant for 1990s web design.

Ryan Monro hurriedly recorded the Talking Clock before it was taken offline. ( Supplied: Ryan Monro )

Just like the original, users can visit 1194online.com and hear the authoritative voice of the late-ABC presenter Richard Peach.

For example, listeners can hear Peach say "at the third stroke, it will be 3:38 and 3 seconds", followed by the jarring "beep, beep, beep".

Former ABC Adelaide broadcaster and a voice of the Talking Clock, Richard Peach, died in 2008. ( ABC )

Telstra announced its decision to end the service in April, but Monro, a member of ARIA-award winning band The Cat Empire, only found out two hours before George was to be silenced.

In what was literally a race against time he set up recording equipment and repeatedly rang the Talking Clock.

With each call disconnecting after a minute, it took 66 attempts before he was able to capture George's entire script.

"I was worried at 11:12pm, when I still didn't have the numbers 13 or 14 yet, and I kept getting the busy signal," Monro said.

"Some people go out in the shed and build things. I don't have a shed, but I've got a laptop.

"It was a good challenge."

Monro's unofficial Talking Clock website includes a logo for Telecom and a woman using a brick mobile phone. ( Supplied: 1194online.com )

'People assumed it would be there forever'

There is a catch. Monro's 'clock' is not a genuine timepiece because its voice relies on the system time of the user's phone, tablet, or computer.

Essentially, there is no point going to the website if you want to independently verify the time.

But in an age where just about any digital device can display the time, Monro did not want a slice of Australian history to be lost.

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He recalled the occasions he had used the Talking Clock — usually when he was half-asleep and reached for the landline phone near his bed.

"I think it's something people assumed would be there forever. I just thought it'd be a shame for that to be gone," Monro said.

He hopes his creation is allowed to live on, admitting he did not consult Telstra before publishing his website.

"Hopefully they'll see it as the compliment that it is," he said.

Clock's demise comes amid tech upgrades, funding cuts

In a written statement, Telstra did not address questions about whether it had any concerns with Monro's project.

A spokesman said an upgrade to network technology and a desire to "transform ourselves into a simpler business" was behind the decision to close the 1194 Talking Clock and the 1196 weather service after 66 years.

"We know some people still find 1194 and 1196 useful, which is why we started giving notice to some customers more than 12 months ago about the change, and then extended the closing-down date from June 30 to September 30, 2019," the Telstra spokesman said.

In April, the contractor who ran the Talking Clock for Telstra told The Age the service still attracted about two million calls a year.

"There is still a great demand for it," Dennis Benjamin, the chief executive of Informatel, told the paper.

Those checking the time after a daylight savings change, in particular, continued to find it useful, he said.