Elena Duggan wins MasterChef 2016 after gruelling Heston Blumenthal pressure test

Elena Duggan choked back tears as it was announced she had defeated Matt Sinclair after three intense challenges in the Grand Final episode of MasterChef, season eight.

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"I'm just so grateful for the whole experience," she said.

Elena was awarded $250,000 cash, her own magazine column and bragging rights for the foreseeable future. Matt also scored $40,000 for winning second place, while Harry scored $10,000 for third place,

Matt, 27, and Elena, 32, triumphed over fellow contestant Harry Foster in the Semi Final on Monday night, after his risky choice of making an Italian main dish in a service challenge fell flat.

The duo were then tasked with three intense rounds in the Grand Final, in order to take out that precious MasterChef plate, previously won by Billie McKay last season.

In the first round of the Grand Final episode, there were 30 points up for grabs, with the contestants having just one hour to prepare an entree dish based on one hero ingredient from 10 possible ingredients.

Matt chose quail, and came up with this dish that he hoped would be "pretty and delicate", and it was. The judges scored him a whopping 26 points out of 30.

Elena chose to hero marron fish and wished she had "longer to refine" the finished plate, but the judges loved it, giving her a total score of 23 points out of 30!

The second round, for 30 points, was a main course with no rules. And for a dish with no rules, boy were the stress levels at an all time high.

But in the words of Elena at the beginning of the cook: "No rules, no excuses."

Note: The viewers were already stressed at this point...

Even the show's co-host George was frustrated...

Eventually, the meals were made, the plates were tasted and they both ended up with a round two total score of 30 points. Yep, Matt was still in the lead at this point with 56 points - just three points ahead of Elena.

Seriously though. Look how amazing Elena's main dish was...

Once the emotional family reunion bit was done (we're ALL crying by now), it was time to head onto the deciding round.

The final round, for 40 points, was by far the most difficult challenge we've seen in the entire season, as the contestants were tasked with a five-and-a-half-hour cook to replicate a Heston Blumenthal dessert. Easy, right?

Just look at that thing...

"I consider running out the door for a brief moment," Elena said, with Matt adding, "I'm petrified".

Look, they each struggled in their own ways, but after all the chaos of the 100-step dessert, there could only be one winner.

So we all got the tissues out for Elena as she took out the winning spot with a grand total score of 86 out of 100, compared to Matt's total score of 84 out of 100. Congrats, Elena!

NSW school teacher Elena’s most well-received cooks in the season included her Spanish rice dish in episode 30 and her impressive-yet-simple Apple Cheese and Bickies dish during the semi final.

While Matt, a coffee roaster from Queensland, was praised heavily for both of his "flawless" dishes in the Semi Final. Seriously, check out his doughnut, below.

In fact, he was praised by the judges throughout the entire competition and was always a frontrunner to win. Well, in the judges eyes anyway.

It was also a tight competition when last year’s winner, Billie McKay, beat her opponent Georgia Barnes by a miniscule two points back in 2015.

The 25-year-old former restaurant manager from NSW relocated to England after her win last July to work for Heston’s Fat Duck, his famous Berkshire restaurant that boasts three Michelin stars. She also did stints in his Heathrow Airport café and a gastropub.

“You have to embrace everything MasterChef offers and keeps offering after the finale," she told The Sydney Morning Herald this week. "There's still a lot to do and with the different opportunities presented there's so much you can try. What's come out of doing that has left me humbled and feeling lucky.

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