Almost one in four students who scored the maximum ATAR of 99.95 attended one independent school in Hawthorn.
Scotch College racked up eight of the 36 perfect ATAR results awarded to Victorian students.
It was followed by Penleigh and Essendon Grammar, Haileybury and Melbourne High, which each had three students achieve the perfect score.
There were tears of disappointment, happiness and exhaustion on Friday as more than 50,000 students received their long-awaited VCE results at 7am.
It signalled 13 years of schooling coming to an end, and the beginning of universities' annual feeding frenzy for the brightest students.
At the University of Melbourne, 74 students were offered fee-free degrees and annual allowances of up to $10,000 as part of the prestigious Chancellor's Scholarship.
Independent and select-entry state school students made up the vast majority of the 46 recipients whose names the university has published. There were just four published recipients from mainstream state schools.
Fiona Yu, 18, believed she might be the first person to get the award from Frankston High School. She scored a 99.90 and said she was screaming and jumping up and down when she found out. Her aim is to study science.
"Mum was super proud, she cried a bit," she said.
Fiona said she was happiest to score a perfect 50 in maths methods, because her favourite teacher taught the subject.
Fellow scholarship winner and Balwyn High School student Anne Pham, 17, received an ATAR of 99.95.
She was at the university on Friday with her sister, who came to Australia from Vietnam with their parents in 1999. She plans to achieve a masters in medicine and study abroad.
"I was aiming for high enough to get a scholarship, I never in my wildest dreams thought it would be this high," she said.
Running on only three hours sleep, Abby Patrick held back tears of happiness as she stared at her VCE results.
School captain, scholarship recipient and state rower, the Shelford Girls' Grammar student is no stranger to rising to a challenge.
Abby received an ATAR 85.8 - a result that she hopes secures her a spot in an international business degree at Monash University, a campus her friends and family also attend.
"The future is looking great," she said.
With previous dreams to be a professional basketball player or champion rower, the 18-year-old now hopes to own and manage her own business and one day work abroad.
Many students overcame great obstacles to complete the VCE.
Collingwood College classmates Mohamud Mohamud and Georgia Brooks juggled part-time jobs with school so that they could support their families.
But on Friday, the Year 12s had something to smile about. They had finished the VCE, and were happy with their results.
Mohamud Mohamud arrived in Australia when he was 11 after fleeing civil war in Somalia.
He spoke very little English but worked hard to pick up the new language.
"It was so different to where I came from, the environment, the people, the schooling," he says.
He's hoping to study Engineering at RMIT or Monash.
"I have always been interested in electricity, and the physics of it," he says.
Georgia's results, and her portfolio, mean that she'll be able to study a Bachelor of Fine Arts at RMIT or the Victorian College of the Arts.
"I'm feeling great right now," she says.
She was diagnosed with depression at the start of Year 11, and struggled to muster enough energy for school.
She's now on the mend and wants to become a secondary school arts teacher.
Others who obtained a perfect ATAR included two students from Mount Scopus Memorial College and two from Brighton Grammar School.
Balwyn High, Methodist Ladies' College, Girton Grammar School, Mentone Grammar and Genazzano FCJ College also boasted a dux who had attained a 99.95 ATAR.
???HIGH ACHIEVERS
Photo: Paul Jeffers
GUS PICKING, 18
Williamstown High School
Result: 99.7
Ambition: Zookeeper
Gus Picking won an important bet on Friday - he beat his chemistry teacher's ATAR of 99.6. The Williamstown High Student achieved an impressive ATAR of 99.7.
"This is a lot better than my average and a lot better than the highest I had hoped for," he said.
"I'm certainly surprised, happily surprised."
His reward for winning the bet is being allowed to draw on the school lab coats in iodine - a chemical that leaves purplish stains on the starched white lab coats.
The 18-year-old wants to study a Bachelor of Science at Melbourne University and dreams of being a zookeeper.
Next year he will have a gap year to travel through South America. He's lined up volunteering work at a sloth and toucan rescue centre in Costa Rica.
After he finished his shift at the family bookshop, Gus celebrated his results by watching the new Star Wars film.
Photo: Chris Hopkins
JACK GREEN, 18
Frankston High School
Result: 95.9
Ambition: Screen acting
The VCE was a juggling act for Jack Green.
The teenager stacked his plate high - studying hard, being school captain and starring in multiple acting roles. In year
11, Jack appeared in Neighbours and the independent movie Emo: The Musical.
But he said doing what he loved made the VCE so much easier.
"Drama and music...was like my break from school at school," he says. "It's about finding a balance really."
He was over the moon with his ATAR.
"I'm ecstatic. I got a 47 in Drama so I am extremely happy about that," he says.
His score places him well with in the 'clearly in' range for his first preference, Commerce at the University of Melbourne,
but it's acting that Jack is truly passionate about.
"I want to pursue screen acting more than anything," he says. "I'll be doing a Saturday course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art and I'm planning to audition for the Fringe Festival in 2018."
Photo: Simon Schluter
DAISY CLARKE, 18
Lauriston Girls' School
Result: 99.2
Ambition: Arts/ Law at Monash University
No one ever had to nag Daisy Clarke to study.
"She's worked hard all year," said her mother Gail.
She felt a little nervous as she waited for her results, nursing a cup of tea.
"My heart's racing," she said as the clock hit 7 am.
With the aim to study a double degree of Arts and Law at Monash University, she needed an ATAR of 98.
"I was honestly expecting about 86, so I'm very shocked," she said.
Her plan for the rest of the day: "cry", then go to school to thank her teachers.
Photo: Paul Jeffers
ELLA FERRIS, 18
Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School
Result: 91.05
Ambition: Acting
Ella Ferris moved to Melbourne from Cairns when she was nine years old because she and her sister wanted to be ballet dancers.
The Djabugay Yidinji woman has since settled on acting, however her options are now wide open after winning a prestigious University of Melbourne chancellor's scholarship.
The 18-year-old student completed year 12 at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School and scored 91.05, which won her an indigenous scholarship.
"It's unbelievable. I was just cruising through the day, Mum and I were hanging out because we were excited," she said. "I got this call which I wasn't expecting. It's opened up this opportunity for me."
At university Ella wants to study a bachelor of arts with a focus on humanitarian work, inspired by her father's career as a social worker in the indigenous community.
Career-wise though, she has her sights set on acting. "I would love to be an actor; film and TV is where it's at for me," she said.
- with Phoebe Hosier and Gina Cerasiotis, Jackson Peck, Matilda Boseley, Aleksandra Bliszczyk???, Tom Cowie.
