New Zealand's Scott McLaughlin has won a drama-filled Bathurst 1000 for the first time in his career after surviving a tense finish at Mount Panorama.

McLaughlin navigated his Ford through a nervous final lap shoot-out after the field was forced to follow the safety car after Andre Heimgartener crashed heavily on lap 159.

Fellow New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, driving a Holden, finished runner-up, 0.680 of second behind McLaughlin, who shared the win with co-driver Alex Premat.

McLaughlin became the first driver to win the race from pole since Tander won alongside Will Davison in 2009.

"Oh, man… I can't believe I won the Bathurst 1000!" McLaughlin said.

"We had such a good car all week. I put so much pressure on myself and our team, put so much pressure on ourselves to make this a good one and so proud of everyone."

With the win, McLaughlin extended his already substantial lead over van Gisbergen in the championship standings from 598 to 622 points.

McLaughlin (centre) shares the spoils of his win with the crowd in Bathurst. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

'It was crazy'

Co-driver Premat summed up the race perfectly when he said: "It was so stressful. It was insane. It was a gamble. It was crazy."

Eight safety car periods in the final 61 laps — after just one disrupted the contest in the opening 100 laps — created the ingredients for a finale of unparalleled drama on the Mount Panorama circuit.

Strategies were flipped and reversed several times over the last couple of hours as teams battled with diminishing fuel loads and rapidly changing circumstances.

After the start of the race was delayed when Brodie Kostecki leaped out of his Commodore after suffering breathing difficulties during the warm-up lap, the race was again disrupted on the first lap of racing when Tim Slade was sent careering into the wall at The Cutting after being nudged by Scott Pye.

That instigated the first safety car of the day, but that was the only interruption to an enthralling battle at the front of the field, as McLaughlin lead early from Chad Mostert, Michael Caruso and Will Davison.

Ford's Scott McLaughlin won following a frenetic conclusion at Mount Panorama. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

Frenchman Premat gamely battled with the lead drivers of the other cars at the front, Cameron Waters, Chaz Mostert and Jamie Whincup, but was eventually passed after locking up dramatically and damaging his front left tyre.

McLaughlin re-entered the race and went about reducing the deficit to Mostert and Whincup, whilst teammate Fabian Couthard made his way up from 16th on the grid to the top contenders, ending up in third spot — where he would play a vital, if contentious role in the race.

Coulthard backs up the field

There was drama on lap 124 when Ford drivers Mostert and Cameron Waters came together and plunged into the sand trap when third and fourth on the road respectively.

Mostert was given a pit lane penalty, but he is likely to incur the further wrath of his livid team bosses after another race-ending incident between the pair.

"It's a common occurrence between us," a devastated Waters admitted. "It's no good for the team."

There was to be further drama in a later safety car period, when Coulthard would slow the field dramatically with 26 laps to go to give teammate McLaughlin and Whincup enough space to make their pit stops.

Jamie Whincup gambled on a safety car that arrived too late. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

The then-seventh-placed van Gisbergen had a fuel advantage over the leading pair and would have likely jumped both leaders at the round of stops.

Coulthard's actions earned him a drive-through penalty, but in the end it mattered little as further safety car periods dominated the strategy of the leading teams.

Race-leader Whincup was hoping for a late safety car so as to negate his unfavourable fuel situation, exasperated by leading and holding off McLaughlin for so long in the middle stages of the race.

Unfortunately, when the safety car did arrive, it forced Whincup to pit but allowed McLaughlin to preserve enough fuel to race to the finish.

That set up the final Ford vs Holden last-lap shootout, 6.17 km of unbelievable drama, as both New Zealand drivers slid around the famous circuit on cold tyres in a desperate bid to claim a maiden victory in the Great Race.

However, it was McLaughlin who held his nerve to hold on for a famous and dramatic victory — the first for DJR Team Penske in 25 years.

Look back at how all the action unfolded throughout the dramatic contest in our live blog.