Nick Faldo came within a stroke of capturing his first title for nearly six years but was denied at the last by on-form Ernie Els in the Heineken Classic in Melbourne.

The world number two eventually won his fourth tournament in five starts by a single stroke from Faldo and Peter Lonard despite struggling with his game for the first two rounds at Royal Melbourne and reaching half-way on just two under par, eight off the lead.

But a night out on Friday loosened the limbs and the South African found his rhythm and danced up the leaderboard to post a clubhouse total of 15-under par with a final-round 65.

Faldo, the leader after 64 holes, needed a birdie on the last, went for broke but shot through the green and had to settle for a finish of 14-under-par, which he did graciously.

Lonard, though, arrived on the final tee tied with Els on 15-under. He could have played safe, stuck with a par and forced a sudden death.

But the Australian Masters champion's tee shot flew down the right, his second thudded into the bunker and in the end the putt for par slid past the hole for only his third bogey of the tournament.

Faldo took confidence from his performance, despite coming so close to breaking his long title drought.

"The best bit for me is that I hung in there and stayed there for the first time in a long time. That did me the world of good. It was a nice feeling to be in there again," said.

Els added: "I played with Peter Lonard the first two days. If you asked him if he ever thought I was going to win the tournament after playing with me, I am sure he would have said: 'No way'.

"I was out of sorts with my game and my rhythm was all over the place. It wasn't a great feeling," said the British Open champion.

"To get it all back on Saturday gave me a sense of excitement, I felt I had a chance. I felt good and excited about today."

It was a battle from the off after Stephen Gallacher had made an early charge to join Faldo on top of the leaderboard at 11-under par.

Paul Casey, the half-way leader who hit a patch of erratic form, was also in on the act and at one point all five players were tied for the lead on 12-under.

Faldo, Lonard and Els took turns in holding the outright lead before the thrilling finish on 18.

Casey eventually finish tied for fourth with Gallacher, Soren Kjeldsen and English compatriots Gary Evans and David Lynn while Greg Norman finished on six-under.

Collated final-round scores (Par 72, GB and Irl unless stated):

273 - Ernie Els (RSA) 70 72 66 65

274 - Peter Lonard (Aus) 67 72 67 68, Nick Faldo 69 71 65 69

276 - Stephen Gallacher 70 70 71 65, Gary Evans 67 73 70 66, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 67 71 67, David Lynn 69 65 73 69, Paul Casey 65 67 74 70

278 - Bob Friend (USA) 70 73 69 66, Peter Fowler (Aus) 67 72 70 69

279 - David Bransdon (Aus) 74 67 71 67, John Bickerton 68 70 72 69, Stephen Allan (Aus) 68 68 73 70

280 - Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 70 72 73 65, Nick O'hern (Aus) 71 71 71 67, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 68 71 71, Richard Green (Aus) 69 71 69 71, Brian Davis 70 74 65 71, David Smail (NZ) 71 68 69 72

281 - Darren Fichardt (RSA) 70 74 69 68, Greg Turner (NZ) 68 73 70 70, Richard Lee (NZ) 69 69 72 71, Steve Collins (Aus) 69 72 69 71, Stephen Scahill (NZ) 71 69 69 72

282 - Eddie Lee (NZ) 70 71 72 69, Steven Bowditch (Aus) 72 72 69 69, Jorge Berendt (Arg) 73 68 70 71, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 73 69 69 71, Greg Norman (Aus) 73 69 69 71, Soren Hansen (Den) 72 71 68 71, Simon Khan 72 72 67 71, Ian Poulter 74 64 71 73

283 - Lucas Parsons (Aus) 68 73 73 69, Paul Sheehan (Aus) 72 70 72 69, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 71 73 69 70, Cameron Percy (Aus) 71 71 70 71, Santiago Luna (Esp) 66 74 71 72, Steve Webster 68 69 70 76

284 - Michael Long (NZ) 74 68 73 69, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 69 73 73 69, Jamie Donaldson 74 66 74 70, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 72 68 73 71, Andrew Tschudin (Aus) 69 73 71 71, David Park 75 68 70 71, Charlie Wi (Kor) 74 70 68 72

285 - Euan Walters (Aus) 74 70 70 71, Kenneth Ferrie 70 72 71 72, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 70 68 79

286 - Brad Kennedy (Aus) 71 70 76 69, Scott Hend (Aus) 72 70 75 69, Scott Laycock (Aus) 73 70 73 70, Tony Carolan (Aus) 70 74 69 73

287 - Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 68 72 76 71, Brett Rumford (Aus) 71 70 74 72, Ian Garbutt 68 71 75 73, Warren Bennett 67 74 71 75, Mahal Pearce (NZ) 71 69 71 76

288 - Nick Dougherty 72 72 74 70, Anthony Wall 70 70 76 72, Paul Lawrie 71 71 74 72

289 - Gary Simpson (Aus) 72 72 72 73, David Diaz (Aus) 73 70 72 74, Nathan Green (Aus) 70 73 71 75

290 - Arjun Atwal (Ind) 69 70 75 76

291 - Lee S James 73 70 74 74, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 70 73 73 75

292 - Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 72 69 74 77

293 - Scott Gardiner (Aus) 73 71 73 76, Dean Robertson 72 72 72 77

296 - Chris Downes (Aus) 72 72 76 76