The Sydney to Hobart yacht race has entered the fourth day, after Master Lock Comanche claimed line honours late on Sunday.

The overall handicap winner may not be known for several days as many of the fleet are still making their way to Hobart.

But Celestial V70, which crossed the finish line at 05:14:34 on Monday, is still a contender.

Celestial V70 crossed the finish line early this morning. (CYCA/Salty Dingo)

The first yacht across the finish line is the line honours winner, not the overall winner. 

The overall, or handicap winner, is calculated by a number of factors, including the size of the boat.

Five boats finished in the annual yacht race on Sunday. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)

Organisers said confirmation of the overall winner may take a day or two as so much was "still in the hands of the wind gods", with Borderline and Min River current overall leaders.

Master Lock Comanche finished at 18:03:36 after a cat-and-mouse run down Tasmania's east coast.

Comanche was followed up Hobart's River Derwent by LawConnect, SHK Scallywag 100, Lucky and Palm Beach XI on Sunday, and Celestial V70 on Monday morning.

Comanche's competing time was 2 days, 5 hours, 3 minutes and 36 seconds — well shy of the line honours race record it set back in 2017.

Co-owner and co-skipper James Mayo told ABC News Breakfast this morning that the crew had been reflecting on the big win.

"What a race. This year, it was on. It was neck and neck,"

he said.

He said the winning boat was an "engineering feat".

"This is a 100-foot boat. The mast is 150 feet high. The whole boat's made of carbon.

"Master Lock Comanche is the most iconic boat in the world.

"To get through those conditions … are pretty brutal at times.

"When you're spearing off waves that are 10 or 15 metres, and then landing, and the whole boat just shatters, I think to myself, 'How do I explain this to people that aren't on here?'"

Master Lock Comanche came powering up the River Derwent to nab line honours. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)

During last year's event, the boat was forced to retire early due to mainsail damage.

Mayo said this year's win was "unfinished business".

"Last year was brutal, but it was unfinished business," he said.

"We wanted redemption and we said, 'Let's do it again.'

"The crew are incredible. If you are going to achieve great sporting achievements, you can't do it without a fantastic team, and that is what we have."

Co-owners of Master Lock Comanche, Matt Allen and James Mayo, celebrated docking in Hobart in the 2025 Sydney Hobart yacht race. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)

Comanche's competing time was 2 days, 5 hours, 3 minutes and 36 seconds. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)

LawConnect crossed the finish line in second place — roughly 47 minutes behind at 18:50:40.

The owner and skipper of the line honours runner-up, Christian Beck, said LawConnect was leading on the first night, when it sustained some damage and broke a mainsheet.

LawConnect crew taping sail tears at first light on Sunday. (Supplied: LawConnect)

"Those things — we fixed them, but they took time," Beck said.

"If that didn't happen, we would have been leading up until the transition and then probably would be OK through there.

"But as soon as that heavier wind came in, Comanche was always going to overtake us.

"We did well at the start but made some errors."

The owner and skipper of Celestial V70 Sam Haynes arrived just before the crack of dawn on Monday morning.

His crew and 52ft vessel were unscathed by injury or boat-damage, but Haynes said this year's Sydney to Hobart race was up there with the most difficult he'd competed in.

"It was quite unpleasant, uncomfortable but great sailing at the same time — you have that kind of love-hate with yachting,"

he said.

While a sea breeze carried the Line Honours contenders up the River Derwent the prior evening, Celestial had little to no wind to ride, with the race's final stretch living "up to its 'shut down' status".

Sam Haynes said Celestial V70 beat Lucky by a minute. (Supplied: CYCA/Salty Dingo)

Haynes said Celestial arrived at Tasman Island at 12.30am, taking around five hours from there to the finish.

"We got parked up off Tasman [Island], no wind, and it just died out there, and then we managed to get some really good breeze and went across Storm Bay really quickly," Haynes said.

"And then as soon as we got in the Derwent [River], it just died out, and we were just going all over the place.

"We did get to the finish line with about, I don't know, 20 minutes on Lucky.

"But we couldn't cross the line because there's just no breeze right there. And then the current was just taking us away.

He said a "tiny little zephyr of breeze" finally pushed them across the finish line.

"We finally just got the hooter and our time's 1 minute less than [Lucky's].  We beat them by a minute," he said.

"So we were the ones that got 'lucky'."

Boat from 1973 currently leading for overall win

The overall winner is yet to be decided, but predictions are currently favouring Love & War, a 47ft NSW-crewed yacht, with Stephen Mccullum at the helm.

"This boat was built in 1973, so more than 50 years ago," Mr Jacobs said.

"It won the overall in 1974, again in 1975, and then again in 2006.

Love & War is a 52-year-old USA-designed 46ft yacht manned by a New South Wales crew. (Supplied: Rolex Sydney Hobart)

"So it goes to show that old things are still good, which gives me a lot of pleasure,"

he said.

Most boats still at sea

As of around 1:30pm on Monday, around 88 boats were racing, with two boats Wind Shift and Millennium Falcon, both New South Wales vessels, yet to reach halfway.

Vice-commodore Jacobs said "quite strong" southerly winds were expected to hit on Tuesday around 3pm, returning to the rocky conditions at the Boxing Day start.

"No-one's feeling concerned about safety. They're conditions that they've trained for, they're conditions that they're used to," Mr Jacobs said.

Double-handed boat Toucan has two skippers Henry Curry-Hyde and Lincoln Dews.

Dews told the ABC it had been "super tough".

"This race is brutal [on] two-handed," he said.

"Yesterday I got a two-hour nap in. This morning I got a two-hour nap which is the longest sleep we've both had. We're feeling fresh considering.

"We've done no damage, actually, we've both been in really good condition. We were we were actually quite surprised. We got through it completely unscathed."

Other participants also described it as a tough race, with a quarter of competing yachts retiring by Sunday morning.

Participants described it as a tough race. (Supplied: Sydney Hobart Yacht Race)

Injury, sea sickness strikes

Multiple boats pulled out due to damage being sustained, as well as seasickness in crews.

Comanche's Mayo said the crew lost the bowman about 3 minutes after the start.

"He suffered a pretty bad injury," he said.

"Maybe he has some broken ribs. We're not quite sure yet, so he was out for the whole race from the first turning buoy."

The overall winner is yet to be decided. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)

Vice-commodore David Jacobs said it felt like "being on a five-storey building and doing a belly flop into a swimming pool".

Speaking on Monday morning, he said competitors for the overall winner will have had the benefit of the northerly wind, giving them a very good run down the coast.

"The first two days were really tough. It was strong winds, 25 knots, sometimes gusting up to 30-35 [knots]. We even had some reports of 40-45 [knots]" he said.

"Now it's a bit nicer, the wind's moved around, the seas have dropped a bit. It's more pleasant sailing."

Mr Jacobs said a number of boats were expected to arrive at the finish throughout the afternoon to a warm reception from the public.

Follow the yachts as they sail for Hobart with the official race tracker.