Victoria Holds the Cheapest Unleaded in the Country While Ballarat North Slips Under 192
Victorian unleaded averages 207.1 cents a litre as of 5th Sep 2026 2:03pm AEST, the lowest state average in the country. The number I keep coming back to is not that one. Across 4,722 active unleaded prices in Victoria, the cheapest board reads 182.9 and the dearest 300.0, a range of more than a dollar a litre inside a single state. On a 50 litre tank, picking the right servo instead of the wrong one is worth comfortably more than fifty dollars.
The cycle has already turned
Victorian unleaded tracked down steadily through late August, from 207.7 cents on 27th August to a low of 204.2 on 1st September. It has climbed every day since: 206.7, then 207.7, and 208.0 today. That is 3.8 cents in four days.
The cheap part of this cycle is behind us. The pattern in unleaded petrol prices suggests the climb has further to run before the next round of discounting begins, so anyone holding out for a better number is waiting on the wrong side of the curve.
The regional numbers run against the assumption
Split Victoria into metropolitan Melbourne and everything beyond a 50 kilometre radius, and metro comes out cheaper on average: 205.8 cents against 208.8 in the regions, a 3.0 cent advantage to the city.
Every one of the state's five cheapest suburbs sits outside Melbourne.
Ballarat North leads the state at 192.0 cents average, with its cheapest servo at 189.3. Golden Point follows at 193.5, and the Bendigo corridor supplies three more: Strathdale at 194.4, White Hills at 194.8, and Epsom at 197.6 across a substantial 12 stations.
Both things are true because regional Victoria does not run on one price. Towns with four or more competing servos price hard against each other, while single operator towns hours from the nearest rival price as they please. Average the two together and you bury both. Metro looks tighter mainly because competition is spread evenly across it.
The Geelong cluster and the metro bargains
Four suburbs around Geelong are sitting on an identical 196.3 cents: South Geelong, East Geelong, Barwon Heads and Mount Duneed. Identical pricing across a whole district usually means one dominant retailer is setting the local benchmark, and it means there is little to gain from driving between them.
Melbourne motorists have genuine options under 198. Patterson Lakes averages 194.5 cents, Frankston North 196.5, Brunswick 196.9 and Seaholme 197.5. Against the metro average of 205.8, a Brunswick fill saves roughly nine cents a litre, or about four dollars fifty on a standard tank.
Where Victoria gets expensive
At the other end, Mallacoota averages 239.9 cents and Tallangatta 236.9. Eildon sits at 231.3 and Mansfield at 227.4. These are the high country and far east towns where volume is low and the freight run is long.
The Mallacoota to Ballarat North gap is 47.9 cents a litre. Statistically speaking, that is the widest intrastate spread we track outside the Northern Territory.
E10 and diesel in brief
Victorian E10 averages 201.5 cents, second only to South Australia among the mainland states and comfortably ahead of New South Wales at 204.4. Victorian diesel has been calm at 254.6 cents, moving 1.3 cents on a day when NT diesel lifted 25.3.
What the numbers mean for your next fill
Fill up now rather than later. The Victorian cycle bottomed on 1st September and has risen every day since, so waiting is currently costing money rather than saving it. The best time to fill up guidance is worth a look for your own suburb before you commit.
Regional drivers should not assume the country is dearer. If your town has three or more servos, the numbers say you are probably paying less than inner Melbourne. If it has one, plan your fills around the nearest competitive centre.
The numbers are clear: in a state averaging 207.1 cents, motorists who check before they pull in are routinely paying under 197.
