What the ACCC does

What the ACCC can't do

  • We don’t set or control Australian fuel prices or petrol price cycles.
  • We don’t resolve individual complaints.

Fuel price monitoring during current Middle Eastern conflict

We're giving weekly updates on fuel price monitoring during the current Middle Eastern conflict.

This includes the latest movements in crude oil prices, international refined fuel benchmarks, and domestic wholesale and retail fuel prices in Australia’s capital cities and more than 190 regional locations.

View this week's fuel price monitoring update.

On this page

How you can save on fuel 

Petrol buying tips

Motorists can use our petrol buying tips and charts to see the movements in retail petrol price cycles in Australia's 5 largest cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. We update buying tips for these cities 3 times a week. 

Buying tips are for regular unleaded petrol prices. They may also be applicable to premium unleaded 95, premium unleaded 98 and E10 prices. This is because prices for the main grades of unleaded petrol tend to move in a similar way.

We don't provide buying tips for Canberra, Hobart and Darwin, as petrol price cycles don't occur in the smaller cities or in most regional locations. Retail diesel and automotive LPG prices also do not move in price cycles.

Fuel price apps and websites

Across all fuel types, we have found that consumers can save money by making the most of fuel price apps and websites to find lower fuel prices in their area. See a list of apps and websites in each state.

What affects fuel prices

Retail fuel prices in Australia are largely determined by:

  • global factors influencing international crude oil and refined fuel prices
  • the value of the Australian-US dollar exchange rate.

Local factors, such as the level of competition can also affect retail prices.

Learn more about what affects fuel prices.

Petrol price cycles

Petrol prices move up and down in regular patterns in Australia's 5 largest cities. Prices can increase sharply over a short period, then decrease gradually over a longer period before the process repeats.

This pattern is also known as a petrol price cycle.

Petrol price cycles are the result of pricing decisions made by various petrol retailers. They are not driven by movements in wholesale prices or underlying costs. Not all retailers participate in price cycles.

How long petrol price cycles last in each city

The duration of petrol price cycles in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth varies between city and over time.

In 2025, the average duration of petrol price cycles was around:

  • 5 weeks in Sydney
  • 6 weeks in Melbourne
  • 6 and a half weeks in Brisbane
  • 2 and a half weeks in Adelaide
  • 1 week in Perth.

Petrol buying tips and charts

You can use petrol price cycles to help you decide when to buy petrol in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. For these cities, we update:

  • buying tips on weekdays (at least Monday, Wednesday and Friday) around midday
  • historical data on price cycles as necessary.

You should use this information as a guide only. The duration of each petrol price cycle varies from cycle to cycle and by location. Historical data can only indicate or suggest the cheapest and most expensive days to buy petrol in the future.

Since the Middle East conflict began in late February 2026, petrol price cycles have mostly not occurred in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. 

Petrol prices in Sydney

Buying tip (updated on Friday):

  • prices have increased
  • motorists looking to buy petrol can shop around for lower priced retailers.

This chart shows daily average regular unleaded petrol prices in Sydney over the past 45 days.

Source: Informed Sources.

Information on the past 5 price cycles in Sydney is shown in this table:

First day of cycle (low price) No. of days to highest price in the cycle Date of highest price in the cycle Days to next cycle (next low price) Total days in cycle
Fri 29 Aug 25 14 Fri 12 Sep 25 21 35
Fri 03 Oct 25 13 Thu 16 Oct 25 20 33
Wed 05 Nov 25 14 Wed 19 Nov 25 14 28
Wed 03 Dec 25 12 Mon 15 Dec 25 27 39
Sun 11 Jan 26 16 Tue 27 Jan 26 15 31

Source: ACCC calculations based on data from Informed Sources.

Petrol prices in Melbourne

Buying tip (updated on Friday):

  • prices have increased
  • if motorists shop around, they may find some retailers who have not yet increased prices.

This chart shows daily average regular unleaded petrol prices in Melbourne over the past 45 days.

Source: Informed Sources.

Information on the past 5 price cycles in Melbourne is shown in this table:

First day of cycle (low price) No. of days to highest price in the cycle Date of highest price in the cycle Days to next cycle (next low price) Total days in cycle
Fri 01 Aug 25 13 Thu 14 Aug 25 24 37
Sun 07 Sep 25 15 Mon 22 Sep 25 25 40
Fri 17 Oct 25 13 Thu 30 Oct 25 20 33
Wed 19 Nov 25 14 Wed 03 Dec 25 21 35
Wed 24 Dec 25 19 Mon 12 Jan 26 22 41

Source: ACCC calculations based on data from Informed Sources.

Petrol prices in Brisbane

Buying tip (updated on Friday):

  • prices have increased
  • motorists looking to buy petrol can shop around for lower priced retailers.

This chart shows daily average regular unleaded petrol prices in Brisbane over the past 45 days.

Source: Informed Sources.

Information on the past 5 price cycles in Brisbane is shown in this table:

First day of cycle (low price) No. of days to highest price in the cycle Date of highest price in the cycle Days to next cycle (next low price) Total days in cycle
Sun 03 Aug 25 12 Fri 15 Aug 25 25 37
Tue 09 Sep 25 12 Sun 21 Sep 25 24 36
Wed 15 Oct 25 13 Tue 28 Oct 25 22 35
Wed 19 Nov 25 13 Tue 02 Dec 25 22 35
Wed 24 Dec 25 19 Mon 12 Jan 26 22 41

Source: ACCC calculations based on data from Informed Sources.

Petrol prices in Adelaide

Buying tip (updated on Friday):

  • prices have increased
  • motorists looking to buy petrol can shop around for lower priced retailers.

This chart shows daily average regular unleaded petrol prices in Adelaide over the past 45 days.

Source: Informed Sources.

Information on the past 5 price cycles in Adelaide is shown in this table:

First day of the cycle (low price) No. of days to highest price in the cycle Date of highest price in the cycle Days to next cycle (next low price) Total days in cycle
Sun 02 Nov 25 4 Thu 06 Nov 25 11 15
Mon 17 Nov 25 6 Sun 23 Nov 25 11 17
Thu 04 Dec 25 6 Wed 10 Dec 25 8 14
Thu 18 Dec 25 6 Wed 24 Dec 25 20 26
Tue 13 Jan 26 9 Thu 22 Jan 26 23 32

Source: ACCC calculations based on data from Informed Sources.

Petrol prices in Perth

Buying tip (updated on Friday):

  • prices are decreasing and may decrease further
  • motorists looking to buy petrol can shop around for the lowest prices.

This chart shows daily average regular unleaded petrol prices in Perth over the past 45 days.

Source: Informed Sources.

Information on the past 5 price cycles in Perth is shown in this table:

First day of cycle (low price)

No. of days to highest price in the cycle

Date of highest price in the cycle

Days to next cycle (next low price)

Total days in cycle
Tue 5 May 26 1 Wed 06 May 26 6 7
Tue 12 May 26 1 Wed 13 May 26 6 7
Tue 19 May 26 1 Wed 20 May 26 6 7
Tue 26 May 26 1 Wed 27 May 26 6 7
Tue 02 June 26 1 Wed 3 June 26 6 7

Source: ACCC calculations based on data from Informed Sources.

Monitoring fuel prices following the excise cut and restoration

The ACCC closely monitored fuel prices following the Federal Budget reduction in fuel excise from 30 March to 28 September 2022. Results of our monitoring were described in the March 2022, June 2022 and September 2022 quarterly petrol reports.

See also

What affects fuel prices

Fuel prices in regional locations

What the ACCC does in fuel monitoring