Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic celebrate victory over Sunrise competitors.

After a 12 years chasing, Nine’s The Today Show has finally toppled Seven’s Sunrise in the most competitive time slot in Australian television.

In a statement released on Saturday, Channel Nine claimed victory over the year’s ratings, writing that the program has “regained the crown as Australia’s favourite breakfast program”.

The network said that winning 21 of the year’s 35 rating weeks across five Australian captial cities meant Today is in “an unbeatable position”.

It’s the first time the program has won the year since 2003, when Tracy Grimshaw and Steve Liebmann were at the helm.

Karl, Sylvia, Dickie & me with some of the wonderfully talented, completely sleep-deprived superstars behind the scenes (mostly) at @thetodayshow who don’t get anywhere near the recognition they deserve putting together the now, Number One breakfast Show in the country. Super bright, super committed, super talented and so good at making us guys out the front look as good as is humanly possible! Such a privilege to work with every one of them… #toughgig #bestteamever #WeLoveAustralia

A photo posted by Lisa Wilkinson (@lisa_wilkinson) on Oct 22, 2016 at 2:24am PDT

“Today has averaged 317,000 viewers each morning in 2016 (up 5 per cent year-on-year), compared to Sunrise which has an average morning audience of 310,000 (down 5 per cent year-on-year,” Nine’s press release read.

However, despite Nine’s confidence, the Seven Network were quick to hit back telling Fairfax that Nine’s announcement was “a bit like a half-time victory lap”.

Co-host of the show, Lisa Wilkinson, posted her congratulations to the entire Today team on Instagram, writing that the program is full of “wonderfully talented” but “sleep-deprived superstars” working towards a common goal.

Peter FitzSimons talks to Mia Freedman about when his wife, Lisa Wilkinson, landed one of the biggest jobs in television. Post continues after video.

“They don’t get anywhere near the recognition they deserve putting together the now, Number One breakfast Show in the country. Super bright, super committed, super talented and so good at making us guys out the front look as good as is humanly possible! Such a privilege to work with every one of them,” she wrote.

Nine’s director of news and current affairs, Darren Wick told Mumbrella it’s been a long time coming for these kinds of results.

“They are such big shows to put to air, not just in terms of production, but in terms of the hours people put in.

“We are really pleased, it’s just been a lot of hard work, we feel like the Western Bulldogs and the Cronulla Sharks.”

Listen: Lisa Wilkinson sat down with Mia Freedman to chat about all things career, family and everything in between.