Channel 10 made headlines for all the wrong reasons this week when its new breakfast show plunged to record lows, drawing just 44 viewers in .

But there was some good news for the third-place commercial network on Thursday when scored a victory over the AFL on Seven.

Ten won the overnight prime-time slot with its flagship cooking show drawing about 482,000 viewers in the five major cities.

The win was all the more special since it came on a night usually dominated by the major football codes screening on 10’s free-to-air rivals. 

Seven’s coverage of the Geelong-Melbourne AFL clash had a metro audience of 437,000, which was 45,000 viewers behind Channel 10.

NRL coverage failed to crack the top 20 programs with just 253,000 metro viewers.

Over on Seven, Home and Away continued its rollercoaster ratings year, dipping to just 297,000 metro viewers after drawing 467,000 on Monday night.

Thanks to a combination of the footy and strong news coverage, Seven won the night overall with a 30.4 per cent audience share.

Nine finished the night with a 26.4 per cent share, while Channel 10 had 17.2 per cent of the market despite a strong showing from MasterChef.

The ABC was not too far behind 10 at 16.5 per cent. 

It comes after a week of bad press for Channel 10.

The network’s new 8am news bulletin, 10 News First: Breakfast, landed with a thud last week, drawing just 44 viewers in Sydney during its second day on air – a record low for Australian television.

It followed unconfirmed reports in June that American media giant Paramount Global could be looking to sell off Channel 10.

However, the station’s parent company Paramount ANZ strongly denied the claims, calling them ‘inaccurate and misleading’.

The Australian was first to report on the possibility of a sale, citing sources as saying Paramount hoped to offload 10 in the next two years.