After his controversial win in Losail, Gibernau finished in a lowly seventh at the next round in Malaysia while Rossi went on to win the race. At the penultimate round in Australia, Gibernau finished in second place once more. On Saturday, Gibernau took his fifth pole of the season, beating Rossi by just +0.100 seconds. On Sunday, Sete started well and enjoyed the lead of the race up to lap eighteen, when Rossi overtook him at turn one for the lead. Gibernau then shadowed Rossi for four laps, before overtaking him with five laps to go. Gibernau held on to the lead until the last lap, when Rossi made a move by closing up on the brakes into the fast turn one, before squeezing inside Gibernau at turn two. Gibernau stuck to Rossi's rear wheel and drove alongside when they both approached the Honda hairpin, hitting the brakes hard but it was Rossi who ultimately lost out when his rear wheel skipped across the asphalt, forcing him to run a little wide in the process. That allowed Gibernau to dive underneath and get back into the lead, but Rossi responded by moving on the inside as they accelerated up and over turn nine - the medium-speed Lukey Heights corner - moving into the lead with just a few corners to go. Eventually, Rossi crossed the line +0.097 seconds ahead of Gibernau to win the 2004 world championship in his first year on the Factory Yamaha, with Gibernau finishing in second place.