IN SOMETHING of a boilover, Melbourne comic Hamish Blake last night took out the Gold Logie award for Australia's most popular television performer.

Blake's win, his first personal Logie, denoted the surprisingly diverse group that shared the bounty of a lively evening.

Judged simply by Channel Nine's pre-event promotion and the thousands of youthful female fans staking out almost every crevice of the Crown complex throughout the weekend, this year's Logies initially appeared to be an awards night masquerading as a promotional vehicle for the pop band One Direction.

But in a colourful ceremony at Crown's Palladium, there were actually some gongs handed out. The awards were again split between the public-voted honours (''most popular'') and those selected by a panel of peers (''most outstanding'').