Like two evenly-matched prize fighters, Australia's Collette and America's Fey have split the awards, with Collette the reigning Emmy and Golden Globe winner for her series United States of Tara and 30 Rock's Fey the SAG winner. Fey won the Emmy in 2008.
At this year's 62nd Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles Collette and Fey are not the favourites, with veteran actress and past multiple Emmy winner, Edie Falco, expected to take the prize.
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Falco is nominated for her new series, Nurse Jackie, in which she plays a nurse struggling with a drug addiction.
"Not to be out there with my Sopranos people is gonna be strange," Falco, a six-time Emmy nominee and three-time winner for her role as mob boss wife Carmela Soprano in The Sopranos, told The Los Angeles Times.
Las Vegas bookmakers have Falco as the 7/5 favourite to take the best comedy actress Emmy, with Collette second at 11/4, then Fey at 5/1. The other nominees are Glee's Lea Michele (6/1), The New Adventures of Old Christine's Julia Louis-Dreyfus (11/2) and Parks and Recreation's Amy Poehler the outside (15/2).
Another Aussie actress in the hunt for an Emmy is Rose Byrne, nominated for outstanding supporting actress for the TV drama Damages.
Byrne has been a regular nominee on the Hollywood awards circuit in recent years for her role in the hard-hitting legal-crime series opposite Glenn Close, but has left empty-handed. It is likely she will depart the Nokia Theatre again without a trophy.
Favourite to win the category is Mad Men's curvy redhead Christina Hendricks.
Two other Australians, Simon Baker for The Mentalist and Rachel Griffiths for Brothers and Sisters, were snubbed for Emmy nominations.
Baker was squeezed out of the lead actor in a drama TV series category by last year's winner Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad, Hugh Laurie for House, Jon Hamm for Mad Men, Dexter's Michael C Hall, Friday Night Lights' Kyle Chandler and Lost's Matthew Fox.
The Mentalist also failed to be nominated in the TV drama series category. The nominees are: Breaking Bad, Dexter, The Good Wife, Mad Men, True Blood and Lost.
Outstanding comedy TV series nominees: Curb Your Enthusiasm; Glee; Modern Family; Nurse Jackie; The Office and 30 Rock.
Outstanding lead actor in a comedy series: Alec Baldwin (30 Rock); Steve Carell (The Office); Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm); Matthew Morrison (Glee); Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) and Tony Shalhoub (Monk).
Outstanding lead actress in a drama series: Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights); Glenn Close (Damages); Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU); January Jones (Mad Men); Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) and Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer).
The Emmy winners are decided by the 16,000 members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and this year's ceremony will be hosted by comedian Jimmy Fallon.
The ceremony will air live in Australia on Foxtel's FOX8 channel on Monday at 10am (AEST).
