While almost 50,000 fans packed into Etihad Stadium to see North defeat the Dogs, more than one million were tuning in on TV.

With the game broadcast in the prime-time Friday night slot, preliminary rating figures show a combined peak audience of 1,303,000 watched on across Australia on Channel 7, with a five city metro average audeince of 679,000.

303,000 tuned in to Fox Footy’s coverage of the Roos' 16-point win.

With consolidated figures still to be confirmed, Friday’s match recorded the second highest peak audience of the year so far. 

North also welcomed Channel 7 into their inner sanctum on Friday night, with coverage live inside the changerooms throughout the night.