The 2026 Toyota AFL Finals Series has delivered another standout weekend, with fans turning out in droves and tuning in to watch two all-time classic Preliminary Finals matches. 

The Sydney Swans vs Fremantle Preliminary Final reached 5.4 million people, more than one million higher than the next-highest reaching game this season. It was the most watched Friday night preliminary final of all time. 

More than 300,000 viewers watched the match on 7plus, making it the highest streaming audience on the platform for an AFL match other than an AFL Grand Final.  

A crowd of 45,129 attended Friday night’s Sydney Swans v Fremantle Preliminary Final at the SCG, the highest AFL crowd at the venue this season and the third-highest attended AFL Final at the SCG all-time, behind the 2017 Elimination Final between Sydney and Essendon and the 2022 Preliminary Final between Sydney and Collingwood.
 
On Saturday, 97,835 fans attended the Hawthorn vs Brisbane Lions Preliminary Final at the MCG, the third-highest attended AFL Finals match, excluding AFL Grand Finals, in the AFL era since 1990. 

The attendance was also the third-highest Preliminary Final crowd in the AFL era, behind the 2025 Preliminary Final between Hawthorn and Geelong and the 2007 Preliminary Final between Geelong and Collingwood. 

Outside of AFL Grand Finals, it was the highest AFL Finals crowd the Brisbane Lions have played in front of, and the second-highest AFL Finals crowd Hawthorn have played in front of. 

Saturday night’s nail-biter reached over 5 million people, and was the second most watched game of the season, behind only Friday night’s record breaker. The combined total reach for the Preliminary Finals was more than an incredible 10.3 million Australians, the most watched Preliminary Finals weekend ever. 

The 142,964 fans across the two Preliminary Finals brings total attendance for the 2026 Toyota AFL Finals Series to 656,241, while total attendance across the 2026 Toyota AFL Premiership Season and Toyota AFL Finals Series has reached 8,428,256. 

The overall season tally, which includes the additional two Wildcard Finals in 2026, has moved beyond the previous top attended seasons of 2024 (8,289,788), 2025 (8,236,423) and 2023 (8,139,926). 

The 2026 Toyota AFL Final Series is also the most watched finals series of all time to this point of the finals series, reaching over 41 million Australians across the 10 finals so far.  

AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said: 

“The Preliminary Finals delivered another huge weekend of footy, with more than 142,000 fans turning out across Sydney and Melbourne and a record Friday night Preliminary Final audience watching the Swans and Dockers. 

“It has been another outstanding Finals Series so far, with fans watching and attending the footy in record numbers, and we now look forward to a massive Toyota AFL Grand Final week and match ahead with Brisbane and Fremantle battling it out for ultimate footy glory.”