Then in one nightmare moment on The Chase it all came crumbling apart.

Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert were in prime position for podium finishes before they came to grief on lap 124.

Mostert locked up on the entry into The Chase and clipped the front right of Waters' car, sending both Mustangs into the sand.

Neither car could escape the gravel and it brought out the safety car.

It brought an end to what had been a near-flawless day for both drivers.

Upon his return to the garage Waters cut a dejected figure.

"We were tracking along for a podium, we were fuel saving and Chazzie was obviously trying to race me to pass me, he was meant to be fuel saving and, I don't know, he just made a mistake," he said.

"The team put in so many hours and they deserve much better than that.

"We should have been up there, we should have one car on the podium, maybe two, and we've both just ended up in the dirt."

Prior to the crash the Tickford Racing pair were engaged in a four-way battle for podium positions between DJR Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin and Triple Eight Racing's Jamie Whincup.

They had never been far away from the head of the race all day but, instead of glory, their day ended with another Bathurst 1000 with no podium for Tickford Racing.

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The team's last podium at Bathurst came in 2015 when Mark Winterbottom finished second.

It's not been a fun season for the team either, with Mostert's win at Melbourne the garage's only victory of the year.

Together Mostert and Waters have given the team 17 other podium finishes, in a year defined by close finishes behind DJR Team Penske and Triple Eight Race Engineering.

They now turn their attention to Surfers Paradise, where Mostert will aim to repeat his success on the track from last season.

The Waters-Mostert incident was one of several crashes in a drama-filled back third of Sunday's race - in stark contrast to the clean racing which came before it.

Todd Hazlewood crashed out at Reid Park to end what had almost been a 100-lap window of uninterrupted green flag racing.

And from that point on the saying 'Safety cars breed safety cars' began to ring true.

The Kostecki Brothers Racing wildcard entry - which had already struck pre-race drama - wiped out at Reid Park shortly after Hazlewood on lap 111.

Alex Rossi's crash at Murray's Corner with just 27 laps to go sent most teams into panic stations, as they questioned whether their cars could get home on one more full tank.

Garry Jacobson and Richie Stanaway got tangled up inside the last half an hour of the race, leaving the former stranded for several laps in the sand.

Andre Heimgartner's late crash led to a one lap sprint for home.