The 2022 winner of The Voice Australia has been announced, taking home $100,000 prize money and a recording contract with Universal Music Australia.

And the winner is… Lachie Gill, from Rita Ora’s team. The 24-year-old Melbourne PE teacher and former footy player said he “never, ever would’ve expected” to win, before he performed his new winner’s single Wasted Time.

The four remaining contestants battling it out in Sunday’s finale were Thando Sikwila from Team Keith, Team Guy’s Jordan Tavita, Team Rita’s Lachie Gill, and Faith Sosene from Team Jess. There wasn’t a weak link among them, with the coaches heaping praise on every performance.

But Lachie’s win wasn’t without some social media controversy, with some viewers complaining he was picked as the winner among a diverse top four.

Here’s how it all went down …

The performances

Faith Sosene went first, delivering a soulful performance of the Christina Aguilera ballad Beautiful – and the judges were full of praise, with Guy Sebastian declaring it “the best singing we’ve seen in this entire competition.”

Lachie Gill sang an orchestrated, surprisingly rocky version of Cyndi Lauper’s classic Time After Time. He said he was “super-nervous”, but the coaches ate it up – Jess Mauboy revealed Time After Time was her favourite song in the world, and she said his rendition didn’t disappoint.

“That was such a great spin on such a classic love song – you made it modern and cool,” Rita Ora told him.

Thando earned huge cheers with a stirring performance of the Andra Day song Rise Up – which Keith Urban called a “perfect full circle moment” for the young mum.

“What you represent is so important for me as a woman,” Rita Ora told her.

Finally, Jordan smashed Benson Boone’s soulful ballad Ghost Town – a performance that brought coach Rita Ora to tears: “That was amazing … that was so special,” she said.

Each contestant also teamed up with their coach for a special duet during the grand finale.

Confusion over finale voting

Some fans were left confused last week as public voting was open ahead of the grand finale, yet previews of the episode were already shown on TV. How could fans vote if the finale had already been filmed, some viewers wondered?

News.com.au can clarify that the grand finale had been prerecorded, but viewers’ votes were promised to “entirely determine the winner” because alternate endings had been recorded.

That means each of the four finalists had to act out their winning (and losing) moment, and the ending that aired was then determined by the public votes. So while viewers watched Lachie win on Sunday night, his was one of four reactions filmed.