Top models in a muddle live on Australian TV

Producers of the hit show Australia's Next Top Model have been left red-faced after supermodel host Sarah Murdoch announced the wrong winner in what newspapers are calling the country's most awkward TV moment.

Video of the gaffe has spread like wildfire on the internet.

Murdoch, whose father-in-law is media baron Rupert Murdoch, was close to tears as she realised she had mistakenly announced 19-year-old Kelsey Martinovich as the winner of the Foxtel series during the live final.

Martinovich had made her acceptance speech before Murdoch backtracked on stage to reveal the real winner was 18-year-old Amanda Ware from the Gold Coast.

The presenter said: "I'm so sorry. Oh my God, I don't know what to say. This is what happens when you have live TV folks, this is insane, insane, insane."

Martinovich may have had a short-lived reign as Australia's Top Model, but it wasn't all bad news as Foxtel has decided to award her A$20,000 and a trip to New York as a consolation.