'Molly' Miniseries Scores Two Gongs At Last Night's AACTA Awards

It smashed TV ratings and blitzed through the ARIA charts earlier this year and now the Molly miniseries is getting the industry credit it deserves, last night picking up two awards at the AACTA Awards in Sydney. 

The show's star, Samuel Johnson, was awarded the gong for Best Lead Actor In A Television Drama for his flawless portrayal of the beloved music critic, beating out some tough contenders, including previous AACTA Award-winners, The Code star Ashley Zuckerman and A-lister Richard Roxburgh for Rake.

As news.com.au reports, a visually-shocked Johnson kept things short as he accepted the award with a phone charger hanging out of his pocket. 

"I had to perform a variety of unconscionable acts to secure this role," Johnson teased. 

"More than is usual. But although I mostly regretted the preparation, I’m starting to feel like it was all worth it.

"Thank you to Molly for backing me in and… I should have worked out a speech," he finished suddenly before departing the stage. 

The win comes only days after Johnson rejected a campaign created by his own sisters to win a Logie Award for the role next year. 

Though Molly lost out the Best Telefeature Or Miniseries category to The Kettering Incident, as well as the Best Guest Or Supporting Actor In A Television Drama (Ben Gerrard) and Best Production Design in Television, the acclaimed two-part series did pick up an additional win for Best Costume Design In Television. 

Elsewhere, it was a big night for Hollywood star Mel Gibson with his locally-shot Hacksaw Ridge, which picked up a number of AACTA gongs. 

While Gibson scored the award for Best Direction, the war film also took out Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Lead Actor (Andrew Garfield), Best Supporting Actor (Hugo Weaving), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Production Design.

Elsewhere, Wil Anderson's Gruen won the Best Light Entertainment Television Series award, while fellow comic Celia Pacquola scored Best Guest Or Supporting Actress In A Television Drama for her work in ABC's The Beautiful Lie.

See all the winners here. 

The ceremony, held at The Star Casino, was hit with a wave of protesters before the show even started on the red carpet. 

According to ABC, the group claimed to represent the Women in Film and Television NSW (WIFT) and stormed the carpet dressed as sausages, to protest gender equality in the industry. 

"We're actually here, dressed appropriately for Australia's biggest sausage party," the group said.

"We're really calling on AACTA to serve up some more transparency in their really poor gender performance."

The protesters were removed by security shortly after.