Brett George was crowned the city's first ever barbecue champion at the FLAME Festival

The three teams spent the better part of the day labouring over hot grills, perfecting their pork ribs before handing them to a judging panel.

Mr Grech, who along with his daughter Savannah made up the team Algonquin Smoke, said attention to detail was key.

"Cooking like this really is the sum of all the smaller parts," he said.

The trio of judges, namely Hanno's Country Butchery owner Darren Hannigan, Mayor Darren Power and Ash from Rebel FM, gave points based on presentation, consistency and taste.

During the judging process the Mayor, who had bravely elected to wear a white shirt, had some high praise to offer.

"These are some of the best ribs I've ever had. I want to know where they come from," Cr Power said.

Overall, it was a close contest, with only one point separating Mr George and runner-up Mr White when the judges handed down their verdict.

The newly-minted champion, who walked away with a prize pack including a brand-new Traeger grill as well as the trophy, said the result took him by surprise.

"It's surreal to be quite honest," Mr George said.

"Six weeks ago I didn't see myself cooking in the final.

"I had to throw everything out the window. For home cooking you want the meat to slide off the bone but in a competition it needs to stay on."

His friend and assistant Brenton said he felt other festival goers had missed out on the ideal Saturday experience of smoking meats with mates.

"We've had the best day," he said.

"We got to spend all day smoking, all these other people have missed out. We'll be entering next year for sure."

As for the prize-winning recipe, Mr George said there was "nothing secret" about his approach but admitted it had been something of an experiment.

"There was nothing secret about it," he said.

"We had good meat from Hanno's...I used a basic Lane's rub with mayo as a binder instead of mustard for more fat.

"It was more of an experimental run, but it worked."