Ryssenbeek, 19, and Gregory, 18, narrowly took second place in their round of 64 heats at the Burton Automotive Pro. Gregory, the trials winner, needed a 3.71 when he took to the air on his final wave, netting a 5.33. But he then had to wait for a score from Marlon Harrison to see if he progressed alongside Merewether clubmate Morgan Cibilic.

Gregory finished with a two-wave total of 9.66 to edge out Harrison (8.66) for second behind Cibilic (13.84). Harrison and Brent Dorrington (1.9) exited.

Gregory, who failed to progress as a wildcard in the 5000-point main event last year, then rushed off to compete for St Francis Xavier's College in Surfest's High Schools Teams Challenge at South Bar Beach.

"I was just sitting out there hoping the wave would come and a little one ended up coming through and I made something happen," Gregory said.

"I'm stoked to make the heat this year and I've just got to keep on going in the event. I'm not looking for any points in this, it's just the wildcard at the moment ... nothing to lose.

"I was definitely more comfortable this year. I've sort of got a bit bigger and filled out a bit more."

The event is the finale of the Australia/Oceania regional qualifying series, where seven spots are on offer for the Challenger Series (CS). Cibilic, the former world No.5, is already assured of a place on the CS.

Ryssenbeek, a Merewether club wildcard, needed a 6.37 to jump from last to second and he came out of a barrel in the dying moments to get a 6.67 and eliminate 2023 Surfest runner-up George Pittar. Saxon Reber (11.44) won from Ryssenbeek (10.84), Pittar (10.53) and Thomas Carvalho (7.7).

Ryssenbeek waited several minutes for his score before rushing to celebrate his best Surfest moment with his crew.

"It just made it so much more special with all my friends and family around, that was next level," he said.

"They weren't really scoring barrels unless it was really good, so we wrote off barrels and just focused on turns on those lefts. But this wedge came and I sort of went blank. In my head I thought, if I can make this I can do a snap and a layback. Then as soon as I took off, it just put me in the tube."

Jordy Liackman was another local to progress but Mikey Clayton-Brown, Walter Hiatt, Eden Hasson, Josh Stretton and Felix Byrnes bowed out.

Four heats of the women's round of 32 were held late in the day.

Local Amelie Bourke won the first, scoring a 5.8 with her final wave to finish with a 10.8 tally. Freya Prumm (9.93) also progressed.

Sai Maniwa (7.97) and Isabel Higgs (5.44) were eliminated.

Solid swells are expected to continue but a southerly change is set to create high winds and rougher conditions on Friday.

Morgan Cibilic produced one of the most dominant displays on Thursday as he warmed up for Bells Beach Pro trials and the Challenger Series opener on the Gold Coast next month.

The former world No.5 is assured of a place on the CS and competed for Australia at the ISA World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico last week.

He had scores of 7.17, 6.67, 6.43 and 5.7 to easily control his opening Surfest heat.

"I had fun," Cibilic said.

"It was a pretty beautiful day, gorgeous conditions so it's always good to have a heat at Mez when it's like that.

"There's a lot of sand around, so hopefully when that swell direction changes it will still be fun.

"I'm just doing this then I'll go down and do the Bells Beach trials. I'm just sort of using all this for practice for the Challenger coming up.

"I'm pretty fired up at the moment [to get back on tour] so hopefully keep it that way and get some good heats under the belt. I just want to keep surfing smart heats and keep getting through.

"I just wanted to make sure I was picking the right waves and just getting the job done and surfing well."