In an Australian first, chefs and restaurateurs from 500 venues across the nation voted for their favourite dining experiences. The results, announced on Monday night at Melbourne's Crown, have formed a list of the country's top 100 restaurants.

Canberra had several representatives in the list of 500, including Lilotang, Courgette, Temporada and newcomers Les Bistronomes and the Capitol Bar and Grill.

However, only one Canberra restaurant made it into the top 100: the high-end, wine-focused Aubergine restaurant in Griffith, owned by Ben Willis, which came in at 95.

"To be chef of the year from a publication is one thing, but to be nominated or win chef of the year from a peer vote, then that's the pinnacle of what you could ever be," Benn said.

"It's amazing to be honoured with any award. You can't lie on your laurels; it keeps you moving, keeps you pushing forward all the time. You want to continually evolve and you want to keep getting better every week, every month."

Since migrating to Australia in the mid-1990s and becoming head chef of renowned Tetsuya's at age 25, Benn has not only excelled in his work, but educated and mentored others.

"I don't really see it is as a job; I see it as a lifestyle for myself," he said.

Benn praised the awards for having a different perspective and voting system.

"Because it's voted by your peers, it recognises different people in the industry as well," Benn said.

"The Australian dining scene . . . is an amazing place to be right now. It's really on the brink of becoming one of the dining capitals of the world: across the board from the low ends to the top. There are no boundaries here, we're not tied to tradition."

In the national awards, Attica was ranked second, followed by Quay, Brae and Cutler & Co.

Financial Review editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury said the awards recognised the best of Australia's dining scene.

"These awards are one of a kind," he said. "The finalists are on the list because of their peers. It's a list of venues where chefs want to eat, right across Australia."

He said the results recognised not just the long-standing dining institutions, but also new fast favourites such as Melbourne's Chin Chin and Adelaide's Peel Street.

"It also wasn't confined to one particular state or city," he said. "Restaurants in the top 100 range from Dan Hunter's farmhouse Brae in regional Victoria to YotsGreek Taverna on Darwin's waterfront."

Chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and award director Terry Durack said the top 100 was a brilliant cross-section of Australian dining today, from inventive high-end restaurants to neighbourly late night locals.

"It's great to see that chefs of the stature of Martin Benn, Ben Shewry, Peter Gilmore and Dan Hunter are as respected by their peers as they are by industry observers and restaurant critics," he said.

Critic and award director Jill Dupleix said the chefs had been "quite ruthless" in their voting.

"And yet [they] pay respect to some of our most enduring classic restaurants, as well as identifying a whole new generation of chefs whose work they admire and in whose restaurants they love to eat," she said.

"And chefs being chefs, we also scored a few brilliant late night chef haunts to add to our where-to-eat bucket lists."

- with Natasha Rudra