Ray Meagher's attainment of the Gold Logie with his first-ever nomination at the Logie Awards was the biggest story of last night's ceremony in Melbourne, but there were plenty of other big winners - and one network in particular which had a lean night.

A 'raft' of awards

Earlier in the night, Meagher's hopes of winning gold appeared to have dimmed after he missed out on the other category for which he had been nominated, the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor.

Meagher was upstaged by one of Packed to the Rafters' stars, Hugh Sheridan. Sheridan expressed surprise at having topped Meagher in the category.

"It was a big shock because I really thought Ray would get it, because he's up for Gold," Sheridan said.

For the second year in a row, the night proved to be highly successful for Seven's hit series. Rebecca Gibney won the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actress to go alongside Sheridan's Most Popular Actor win, while the programme itself also took out the category for Most Popular Drama.

Masterful

Ten was another big Logies winner, with MasterChef Australia winning in the Most Popular Reality Program category. Success on the night was a foregone conclusion given the popular acclaim for the series; last year's finale was watched by 3.7 million viewers.

The award was collected by the MasterChef judge Matt Preston, who was himself singled out for an accolade, receiving the Graham Kennedy Award for Outstanding New Talent. Commenting after accepting the Most Popular Reality Program award on behalf of the show, Preston said he had been proud to be part of a programme which enabled individuals to "chas[e] their dreams".

Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation's host Shaun Micallef won the first award on the night for Most Popular Presenter, claiming the prize ahead of personalities such as Melissa Doyle, Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Adam Hills and Rove McManus.

"I didn't want to waste the time writing a speech if I didn't win, so I downloaded one from the internet," he quipped upon accepting the award.

Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation also won the Most Popular and Most Outstanding Light Entertainment Program categories.

Critical acclaim

The public broadcasters ABC and SBS achieved plenty of success on the night.

SBS received several accolades, with its East West 101 crime series claiming the award for Most Outstanding Drama Series, Miniseries or Telemovie. The multicultural broadcaster also obtained two Silver Logies, for Most Outstanding Actor (Don Hany, East West 101) and Most Outstanding Actress (Claudia Karvan, Saved).

The ABC's Four Corners programme won the award in the Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report category, for Sarah Ferguson's "Code of Silence", an expose of sexual abuse perpetrated by NRL players which saw the departure of Matthew Johns from his role at Nine. In the other news category, Seven won for its coverage of the 2009 Victorian bushfires.

Underbelly upstaged

But it was a lean night for Channel Nine, with the second series of Underbelly failing to win in any of the five categories for which it - or one of its actors - was nominated.

Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities had been nominated in the categories for Most Popular Drama and Most Outstanding Drama Series, Miniseries or Telemovie, but was upstaged by Packed to the Rafters and SBS's East West 101 respectively. Roy Billing, Asher Keddie and Anna Hutchison were each nominated in individual categories, but none secured an award.

Nine's NRL version of The Footy Show did succeed in the Most Popular Sports Program category. But it was the only award that the Logies' host broadcaster won at this year's ceremony.

For a full list of award recipients and to discuss the awards night, join our Logie Awards forum discussion.

Logies coverage:

• Meagher topples Gibney to claim Gold Logie
• Naylor enters Logies Hall of Fame
• Full list of Logies recipients