Australian sound mixers Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace have won the sound mixing Oscar for Hacksaw Ridge, but the trio stood back and let their iconic American colleague, Kevin O'Connell, take the spotlight.
O'Connell is an icon in movie sound mixing but until Sunday at the 89th Academy Awards he held the unfortunate record for having the most Oscar nominations of any person without winning.
It was on his 21st, for Hacksaw Ridge and surrounded by Aussies, he broke the drought.
O'Connell praised the Australian trio, director Mel Gibson and the cast and crew of the World War II film set on the Japanese island of Okinawa and Virginia in the US, but was filmed in Sydney and country NSW.
"I wasn't expecting it to happen but I feel eternally grateful that it happened specifically because of the project that it was," O'Connell told reporters backstage.
"Mel Gibson did such an amazing job."
Wright, Mackenzie and Grace stood back and let O'Connell give his long-awaited speech on the Dolby Theatre stage.
"It's an incredible experience to represent the Australian crew and all of the effort that was done by everybody, but it is extra special to be standing here with Kevin," Wright said.
"When you think of Kevin O'Connell, Rob and myself working as sound mixers we've idolised the films he has mixed and grew up on the films that he mixed, we've learned from the things he has done by watching the films he has worked on.
"To stand here tonight with him winning an Oscar for a production that was the most amazing thing to work on is just unbelievable."
It was the second straight year an Australian film won the Oscar in the category after Mad Max: Fury Road's Ben Osmo took the statuette 12 months ago.
Wright made note of that and made a pitch at the end of the news conference for Hollywood studios to continue to look to Australia for sound mixing and editing talent.
Wright and Mackenzie missed out earlier in the ceremony for sound editing on Hacksaw Ridge.
The Australians, with Oscars in hand, were ready to party in Hollywood.
"It's a golden ticket, isn't it?" Wright asked reporters.
"We'll go to the wee hours."
O'Connell's Oscar nominations date back to Terms of Endearment in 1984 and include blockbusters Top Gun, Days of Thunder, Twister, Crimson Tide and Spider-Man.
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