Callinan smashed the lip twice on his backhand before surviving the drop and showing amazing balance to ride out of the surging whitewash for a 9.93 out of 10. The wave 15 minutes into his 35-minute heat set up victory over Central Coast's Adrian Buchan and Merewether clubmate Morgan Cibilic.

Callinan found a back-up score, a 4.53, with two minutes left to book his spot in round three with a 14.46 two-wave total. Buchan (7.57) joined him, but Cibilic, with 4.93 from his only ride, faces the elimination round.

Callinan said the wave for his 9.93 was "insane".

"It's really big out there. I was actually really nervous before going out, and then to see Morgan get cleaned up at the start of the heat. I think the nerves were building as the wave came. Then the wave was just so beautiful, it was massive and perfect ... it felt really good to pull it off."

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