The seventh edition of the event, moved from Sandringham to the specially created St Kilda sailing precinct of the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron, saw home crews on the front of the fields for much of the day with Gilmour and Mara among their top performers.

Having won the first two races ahead of New Zealand’s Logan Dunning Beck and Jack Simpson, the pair were assured of having the race leadership overnight but they rounded the day off by adding a third place finish to their score, with the solid result currently discarded from their tally.

Their overall score of two points sees them lie ahead of the Kiwi duo and their fellow Australians William and Sam Phillips, with both teams lying a further two points adrift.

"It's really good to be back in Australia and sailing in some really good conditions,” Mara said.

“The first two races were in moderate conditions, shifty as the wind tried to go to a sea breeze, then it picked up significantly and we got some true Melbourne conditions.

“It's good to get back to the front of the fleet and back to our winning ways after a slightly disappointing Worlds."

The three-boat women’s 49erFX class is currently led by another Australian pair, Tess Lloyd and Caitlin Elks, after their recorded two wins to lead New Zealand’s Ellie Copeland and Erica Dawson by one point in the early stages of the week-long regatta.

Another home favourite leads the men’s laser class, expected to be one of the closest fought events of the week, as Luke Elliot followed up victory by finishing runner-up in the second race of the regatta.

Elliot leads the overall standings on three points with his team-mate Mitchell Kennedy second on six, although, with London 2012 Olympian Colin Cheng of Singapore among the big names in the field, the duo could see their positions come under threat.

Belarus’ Tatiana Drozdovskaya and Australia’s Ashley Stoddart lead the women’s Laser Radial standings on three points apiece, having earned a race win and second place in the day’s two races.

With Australian crews making up the majority of the 470 field they are, unsurprisingly, dominating the opening stages of the event with Alex and Patrick Conway leading the men’s on two points.

Carrie Smith and Jamie Ryan, meanwhile, lead the women’s on the same points total.

Croatia’s Josip Olujic is currently tied for the leadership of the Finn class on a total of three points, with Australia’s Oli Tweddell also boasting the same total in the three-man field.

There is also a small field in the women’s RS:X event and Australia’s Joanna Sterling has taken full advantage, winning the opening three races.

Germany’s Florian Gruber also boasts a perfect score in the open kiteboarding to hold a five point lead over Croatia’s Martin Dolenc.

Newly crowned Para World Sailing 2.4mR champion Damien Seguin maintained his superb form to lead the class after the opening day by posting second and first place finishes to move onto three points, with the Frenchman two ahead of Norway’s Bjornar Erikstad.

Australia’s Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch are tied with Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell on three points in the SKUD18 Paralympic class, as the British duo seek to gain revenge for finishing second to the home favourites at last week’s World Championships in Melbourne.

With world champions Britain not competing on the opening day, France's Bruno Jourdren, Eric Flageul and Nicolas Vimont-Vicary led the sonar class on two points after winning both races.

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