The Melbourne extravaganza attracted 301,800 over four days

The race was moved this year to allow for the Commonwealth Games, which were also being staged in Melbourne.

Bahrain and Malaysia staged the first two races of this season's Championship and Melbourne officials said their attendances were down 118,200 on 2005.

"It will now revert to the first race," Victoria state chief Steve Bracks said.

Bracks revealed that Melbourne was assured of its place at the start of the F1 calendar for the foreseeable future.

"I was there when the contract was renegotiated for 2010 with an option for a further five years after that and one of the conditions was that it was the first race of the year," he said.