After a two-month hiatus, sport has made a successful return to Australian screens, with the NRL the first football code in Australia to successfully resume its season. The return of rugby league to Australia made global headlines, with the NRL attracting a record 4.5 million viewers by the end of round three.

More than 1.3 million people across Australia tuned in to watch the Parramatta Eels destroy the Brisbane Broncos 34-6, at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium. Nearly one million viewers watched the game live on Channel 9, while NRL pay-tv partner Foxtel enjoyed an audience of 355,000 for the opening fixture of the round.

By the end of the weekend, the NRL’s determination to get back on the field had paid dividends. NRL Interim chief executive Andrew Abdo was delighted with the result.

“Last night was our highest-rating regular-season game in six years – that’s an outstanding result for the game and our broadcast partners,” Abdo said.