Petrol Gaps Reach 109.5 Cents in Brisbane, 77.6 in Melbourne, 53 in Sydney

• A 13 November check of the My NRMA app fuel finder put the gap between the cheapest and dearest regular unleaded at 77.6 cents a litre in Melbourne, 53 cents in Sydney and 109.5 cents in Brisbane, an NRMA analysis shows.
• City averages sit within 2.2 cents of each other (Sydney 219.0, Melbourne 219.4, Brisbane 221.2 cents a litre), so the servo you pick inside your own city moves the bill far more than the city you live in.
• On a 50 litre fill the gap is worth $38.80 in Melbourne, $26.50 in Sydney and $54.75 in Brisbane, and the cheapest regular unleaded in all three cities is now below $2 a litre.

Your Choice of Servo Moves the Bill Far More Than Your City

Fill a 50 litre tank at the dearest regular unleaded in Brisbane on 13 November and the bill runs $54.75 above the same fill at the cheapest. In Melbourne the difference is $38.80. In Sydney it is $26.50. Each figure is the NRMA’s cheapest to dearest gap from its My NRMA app fuel finder (77.6 cents a litre in Melbourne, 53 in Sydney, 109.5 in Brisbane) multiplied by 50 litres.

The 50 litre fill is a round example, not a measured average, and nobody lands on the single cheapest or dearest bowser every time. What the gaps show is the size of the prize. The NRMA’s city averages for the same day were 219.4 cents a litre in Melbourne, 219.0 in Sydney and 221.2 in Brisbane. The widest distance between any two of those cities is 2.2 cents, which is $1.10 on 50 litres. The smallest of the three gaps inside a city, Sydney’s 53 cents, is more than 24 times that. Brisbane’s 109.5 cents is almost 50 times it.

For a driver, the lesson is simple. The three cities cost about the same on average, so a cheaper city is not on offer. The saving sits at the next intersection, in whichever station posted the lower number. The NRMA’s data also shows that across all three cities the cheapest regular unleaded is now below $2 a litre, while the Sydney wholesale price (the terminal gate price) for regular unleaded stood at 197.5 cents a litre after falling 29 cents this month.

Why the Old Cycle Trick Is Less Reliable Right Now

The ACCC’s buying tips for the five largest cities rest on timing the low point of a petrol price cycle. The ACCC attributes the up and down pattern to retailers’ own pricing decisions, with wholesale movements and underlying costs playing no part in it, and notes that not every retailer joins in. In 2025 the average cycle lasted around 5 weeks in Sydney, 6 weeks in Melbourne, 6 and a half weeks in Brisbane, 2 and a half weeks in Adelaide and 1 week in Perth.

That rhythm has been disrupted, and the petrol price rise from February is the backdrop. The regular cycles in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide have largely gone missing from the time the Middle East conflict started in late February 2026, the ACCC finds. A driver who waits for the dip in those cities is waiting on a pattern the regulator says has largely stopped. The ACCC still posts buying tips for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth at midday on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at least, and calls them a guide only.

What replaces the calendar is the comparison. When a cycle is missing, the gap between stations on a given day is still there, and it is the part a driver controls. The ACCC says plainly that it does not set or control fuel prices. The ACCC has found that drivers can save money by searching price apps and websites for cheaper stations nearby, for every fuel type.

The Fall at the Pump Has Not Closed the Gap

Prices are coming down. Oil has fallen 20 percent in two weeks to US$95 a barrel, and Malaysian Tapis, Australia’s regional crude oil benchmark, has dropped more than US$14 a barrel after the United States mid-term elections. The national average for regular unleaded fell almost 22 cents in three weeks to 222.8 cents a litre, and diesel dropped more than 20 cents to 270.9 cents. The ACCC’s 36th weekly monitoring report, dated 13 November, found average retail petrol and diesel prices decreased over the last week in capital cities and across regional locations.

Cheaper fuel on average still leaves a wide spread between stations: on 13 November the NRMA’s figures put it at 53 to 109.5 cents a litre depending on the city. The Sydney petrol price fall forecast covers the same drop in one city. NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury put the relief in context.

“Prices at home are falling and that is great news for families struggling with cost-of-living pressures and an over-heated economy, however we are not remotely out of the woods yet,” Mr Khoury said.

“The average price for regular unleaded today nationally is 222.8 cents per litre – almost 57 cents higher than the average before the war started.”

“We desperately need pre-war prices to return, but to get there we need a permanent peace with the Strait of Hormuz re-opened to unrestricted trade.”

“In the meantime, this post US mid-term plunge is welcome news and we encourage Australians to find the cheapest local service station before they fill up because now is not the time to be paying overs for fuel.”

The ACCC adds that retail fuel prices are largely set by global crude and refined fuel prices and the Australian dollar against the US dollar, with local competition also shaping the price. The federal government fully restored fuel excise to 53.7 cents a litre on 3 August. No cause for the spread inside each city is established, so the gap itself is the fact to act on.

What to Do: Check the Board Against the App, City by City

The ACCC lists the fuel price app or website for each state. Use the one for where you fill.

In Victoria, including Melbourne, the ACCC points to the Service Victoria app. In New South Wales, including Sydney, it points to the NSW FuelCheck website and app, and the Australian Capital Territory uses the NSW FuelCheck website. In Queensland, including Brisbane, there is no single government app listed: the ACCC tells drivers to look up commercial price sites and apps that run on data from the Queensland Government’s fuel price reporting arrangements. Brisbane has the largest gap of the three cities, and its drivers choose their own tool to close it. The My NRMA app fuel finder, which produced the gap figures above, is another comparison option.

The other jurisdictions have their own: MyFuel NT in the Northern Territory, FuelCheck TAS in Tasmania, the RAA SA website and app in South Australia, and WA FuelWatch in Western Australia.

Work out what a saving is worth to you before changing a routine. Saving 10 cents a litre on a 50 litre fill is $5.00 a time, and $130 over 26 fills if you fill up fortnightly. The gaps measured on 13 November are between 5 and 11 times a 10 cent saving, so even catching a station partway down the ladder repays a short detour. A long detour spends what the cheaper price saves, so the closest low price is the target.

Before you fill, check the number on the price board against the app, a habit that counts in the Western Australian case over 91 petrol allegedly sold as premium. The ACCC’s advice if the app or website and the board or pump disagree is to tell the service station first and, if that does not resolve it, contact your local consumer protection agency. The ACCC says state and territory regulators have increased site visits and have issued infringement notices to retailers that breached mandatory reporting requirements. The common breaches they report are failing to report fuel price changes on time and selling at a different price to the one reported. Drivers can also report a problem to the ACCC through its consumer issue form: choose Yes when the form asks whether the report is about fuel.

What Happens Next

The NRMA tells drivers to compare stations first, with more cut-price offers turning up at servos nationwide. The ACCC began weekly fuel price monitoring reports on 13 March, covering the capital cities and more than 190 regional locations, and the 36th is dated 13 November. Those tips refresh at least three times a week, so the next check is a day or two away.

The scale of the fuel problem shows in the ACCC’s own complaint count. It received more than 3,700 reports about fuel in March 2026, which was 29 percent of all reports to the ACCC that month, and the count has settled at around 370 a month from May to September 2026. Falling prices and fewer complaints leave the case for comparing in place. A gap of $26.50 to $54.75 on one fill was on offer in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on 13 November, and the app that shows it costs nothing to open.

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Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar