Burrow, the 2007 winner at Bells, scored a near-perfect 9.63 on one wave in the Rip Curl Pro final late on Wednesday, but could not manage a back-up in the inconsistent but high quality waves after the event moved down the beach from Bells to Winki.

Fanning later described the final nine minutes of the event, when Burrow needed to score just 7.2 out of 10 to claim the lead, as the most nerve-racking of his life. "I was just freaking out," he said.

The patient Fanning, 32, sat well inside Burrow for most of the final, but managed two solid scores after not catching a wave for the first 11 minutes to set up the win. It was then a matter of keeping his cool as the sets became more scarce.

When Fanning surrendered priority as the final reached its climax, Burrow had his chance, but the wave he caught offered little and he kicked out in front of Fanning. This set up a frantic race back to the line-up for one last assault.

The super-fit Fanning, determined to avenge a poor performance at Margaret River, easily won the paddle race for priority and was in control as the seconds ticked away. All Burrow could do was punch his board in frustration as the hooter sounded.

Fanning then celebrated by standing up as a goofy-footer and wiping out in bliss. The Winki Pop cliff made it impossible for him to be chaired up the beach, but the celebration would come later, after his face was painted by the Wathaurong and he rang the iconic bells trophy.

"I thought there were so many opportunities to get a 7, but that's the way it goes," a gracious Burrow said, content that his own world title campaign was back on track, with second place lifting him to fifth on the rankings. "I wouldn't change a thing. I've had a good time."

Earlier, reigning women's champion Carissa Moore defended her Bells title from last Easter against the same opponent, Tyler Wright, who literally put her body on the line in a desperate bid for victory.

Determined to eke out every possible point, Wright suffered a bruised hand and ribs when she surfed one wave onto the rocks in the shorebreak in the dying minutes of the final. ''I’m never going to back away from a situation like that,'' she said.

For Fanning, who made his first trip to Bells as a 15-year-old, won  the contest as a rookie in 2001, and defeated Kelly Slater in an emotional final in 2012, the victory marks the start of a world title defence. He now sits in third place, behind Gabriel Medina and Joel Parkinson.

While the waves were by no means the bigest in the 53-year history of the event, former winner Mark Occhilupo described the standard of surfing as the highest he has seen.