The epic 2009 AFL grand final between Geelong and St Kilda has attracted the highest ratings ever in Melbourne for a premiership decider.

With scores level deep into time-on - before the Cats got home by two goals to win their second flag in three years - fans were glued to the game on television Australia-wide.

A total of 3.62 million people watched the game Australia-wide, including 1.7 million in Melbourne alone, where an incredible 95.6 percent of all households tuned into the game.

It was the same story in Adelaide and Perth with the grand final the most watched program of the entire year in both Melbourne and Adelaide, while in Perth the game had the highest rating share of any capital city with a staggering 96.8 percent of households tuned into the game.

Even in the non-traditional AFL markets of Sydney and Brisbane, the match drew a combined total of almost one million fans with 68.8 percent of Sydney homes tuning in for the match and 79.3 percent in Brisbane.

The crowd for Saturday's grand final of 99,251 also enabled the AFL to set a new attendance record for its finals series of 615,283 breaking the previous mark of 594,919 set in 1995.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou publicly thanked fans for their support of the code in general on Monday in the wake of Saturday's memorable grand final.

"I want to thank all our supporters for the way they have embraced the game in 2009," he said.

"We had a record 586,748 members, recorded the third highest attendances in the 2009 home and away season and then hit an all time-high for the finals series."

"It is a tribute to our clubs, our players and coaches but most importantly it is a tribute to our supporters and they are without doubt the best supporters of any sporting code in the world."