The judging panel took only minutes to declare Mihajlovic the winner after the four finalists’ concerto performances with the Wollongong Symphony Orchestra.

Canadian pianist Dmitri Levkovich won the $8000 second prize and shared the $500 audience prize with Camden pianist Lachlan Glen.

Vladimir Milosevic, who chose the same Tchaikovsky concerto as his fellow Serb and friend of 17 years Mihajlovic, was placed third and also won the $4000 prize for best performance of a major Romantic work.

Aleyson Scopel of Brazil was fourth, ahead of Australian competitor Roger Cui, with Glen and Tristan Lee, also of Australia, in equal sixth place.

­As the SHIPC winner, Mihajlovic will perform at concerts in Italy, France, Russia and New York. Mihajlovic also won the $2000 prize for the best performance of two Chopin Etudes.

Patron Pru Goward thanked the four “magnificent young men” who had enthralled the audience.

“To witness their passion for music has been extraordinary,” she said.

“When they are famous and performing all over the world, we can say we saw them... when they played at the Southern Highlands International Piano Competition.

“We are privileged to have seen a competition like this brought right to our door.”

Artistic director Grant Foster said the SHIPC had been an exceptional week, with an outstanding standard of performance.

The night opened with the world premiere of the overture from Foster’s new opera La Paolina, based on the story of Napoleon’s favourite sister Paolina Bonaparte.

Wollongong Symphony Orchestra Carlos Alvarado thanked the “awesome” orchestra.

Although at the finals the orchestra performed the Tchaikovsky concerto, the Rachmaninoff concerto performed by Levkovich, and Scopel’s Mozart concerto, members had rehearsed concertos for each of the 12 semi-finalists before the final four were chosen.