In the year it became a worldwide hit, the acclaim for Mad Max: Fury Road is continuing.

Director George Miller's return to the action film series has dominated the first instalment of this year's Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards.

It has won six prizes at the AACTA Industry Dinner in Sydney: best cinematography, editing, production design, original music score, sound and visual effects.

Fury Road was only pipped for two awards: the family film Paper Planes won best original screenplay for Robert Connolly and Steve Worland,​ and The Dressmaker's Marion Boyce and Margot Wilson won best costume design.

The industry awards – the lead-up to the main televised ceremony next week – reflect the technical brilliance of a film that is considered a realistic chance of landing Oscar nominations for best editing, production design and visual effects next month.

After four instalments, Miller could still return to the Mad Max series, with discussions underway about two planned sequels.

Margaret Sixel won best editing for the heroic job of working through 480 hours of footage to craft a film that won glowing reviews internationally.

She thanked Miller, her husband, for convincing her to go on what she called a crazy road trip.

"It was a bit bumpy, hit a few potholes, but ultimately was exhilarating," she said.

Cinematographer John Seale, an Oscar winner for The English Patient who has also been nominated for Witness, Rain Man and Cold Mountain, was rewarded for a gruelling shoot in the Namibian desert after persistent rain forced a switch from Broken Hill.

At a ceremony hosted colourfully by actor Rob Carlton, best adapted screenplay went to Reg Cribb and Jeremy Sims' Last Cab To Darwin over two other films based on stage plays, Holding the Man and Ruben Guthrie.

Director Adam Elliot, who won an Oscar for Harvie Krumpet​ more than a decade ago, won best short animation for Ernie Biscuit.

He considers the film, about a deaf Parisian taxidermist, to be the second part of a trilogy that started with the earlier short.

Best short fiction film went to Nulla Nulla, a comedy about a young policeman's first experience on a remote Aboriginal community. It was directed by rising talent Dylan River, whose parents are Samson and Delilah director Warwick Thornton and producer Penelope McDonald.

The Killing Season, Sarah Ferguson's series about the turmoil of the Rudd-Gillard leadership years, won best documentary television program.

"So what is it that everybody in this room wants in anything they've made?" said Ferguson. "They want characters.

"What did we have? Top characters."

Ferguson praised "beautiful cinematographer" Louie Eroglu and "brilliant editor" Lile Judickas who took "non-fiction, documentary, politics - what the hell - and turned it into drama."

That Sugar Film, Damon Gameau's hit about the dangers of sugar in the diet, won best feature documentary.

"It was a beast of a film to put together," Gameau said, adding: "George Orwell said that in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. So here's to documentaries."

While it missed the main award, Only The Dead, about journalist Michael Ware's harrowing war experiences in Iraq, won best direction, editing and sound in a documentary.

Best light entertainment television series went to The Weekly With Charlie Pickering ahead of three other ABC shows – Dirty Laundry Live, Judith Lucy Is All Woman and Julia Zemiro's Home Delivery.

The award for best children's series was a surprise with Ready For This beating three higher-profile shows that also screen on ABC3 – Little Lunch, The New Adventures of Figaro Pho and Nowhere Boys.

In other television awards, Peter Allen – Not The Boy Next Door won best direction in a drama or comedy and best costume design. The World War I drama Deadline Gallipoli also won two awards – best cinematography and best sound in television.

In one of the night's most popular awards, best performance in a television comedy went to Celia Pacquola, who played a frustrated bureaucrat in Utopia.

"I've forgotten everything I've ever known," she said as she took to the stage, having won ahead of Emily Taheny from Shaun Micallef's Mad As Hell and both Nathan Lovejoy and puppet Randy from Sammy J & Randy In Ricketts Lane.

"There's been a lot of talk this week about nominations and comedy," Pacquola said. "Looking at the group that I'm in, I'm very happy to look at that list: it has two women and a purple man in it. Here's to diversity." 

FULL LIST OF WINNERS AT THE AACTA INDUSTRY DINNER

TELEVISION

BEST CHILDREN'S TELEVISION SERIES

READY FOR THIS Darren Dale, Miranda Dear, Joanna Werner (ABC3)

BEST LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION SERIES

THE WEEKLY WITH CHARLIE PICKERING Charlie Pickering, Kevin Whyte, Chris Walker, Frank Bruzzese​ (ABC)

BEST DIRECTION IN A TELEVISION DRAMA OR COMEDY

PETER ALLEN – NOT THE BOY NEXT DOOR Episode 2 Shawn Seet​ (Seven Network)

BEST DIRECTION IN A TELEVISION LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT OR REALITY SERIES

HIPSTERS Episode 1 – What Is A Hipster? Seth Larney​ (SBS2)

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TELEVISION COMEDY

Celia Pacquola​ UTOPIA (ABC)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN TELEVISION

DEADLINE GALLIPOLI Part 1 Geoffrey Hall ACS (Foxtel Showcase)

BEST EDITING IN TELEVISION

REDFERN NOW – PROMISE ME Nicholas Holmes ASE (ABC)

BEST SOUND IN TELEVISION

DEADLINE GALLIPOLI Part 1 Des Kenneally​, Robert Mackenzie, Liam Price, Jed Dodge, Justine Angus, John Simpson (Foxtel Showcase)

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE IN TELEVISION

GLITCH Episode 4 Cornel Wilczek (ABC)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN IN TELEVISION

THE SECRET RIVER Part 1 Herbert Pinter​ (ABC)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN IN TELEVISION

PETER ALLEN – NOT THE BOY NEXT DOOR Episode 1 Jenny Miles (Seven Network)

SHORT FILM

BEST SHORT ANIMATION

ERNIE BISCUIT Adam Elliot

BEST SHORT FICTION FILM

NULLA NULLA Dylan River, Tanith Glynn-Maloney

DOCUMENTARY

BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY

THAT SUGAR FILM Nick Batzias​, Damon Gameau​

BEST DOCUMENTARY TELEVISION PROGRAM PRESENTED BY FOXTEL MOVIES

THE KILLING SEASON Deborah Masters, Sarah Ferguson (ABC)

BEST DIRECTION IN A DOCUMENTARY

ONLY THE DEAD Bill Guttentag, Michael Ware

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A DOCUMENTARY

LIFE ON THE REEF Episode 1 Nick Robinson, Luke Peterson, Jon Shaw (ABC)

BEST EDITING IN A DOCUMENTARY

ONLY THE DEAD Jane Moran

BEST SOUND IN A DOCUMENTARY

ONLY THE DEAD Steve Burgess, Leah Katz​, Andy Wright, Chris Goodes CAS

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE IN A DOCUMENTARY

SHERPA Antony Partos

FEATURE FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

PAPER PLANES Robert Connolly, Steve Worland

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

LAST CAB TO DARWIN Reg Cribb, Jeremy Sims

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD John Seale ASC, ACS

BEST EDITING

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Margaret Sixel

BEST SOUND

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Ben Osmo​, Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff, David White, Mark Mangini, Scott Hecker, Wayne Pashley

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Colin Gibson

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

THE DRESSMAKER Marion Boyce, Margot Wilson

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS OR ANIMATION

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Andrew Jackson, Holly Radcliffe, Dan Oliver, Andy Williams, Tom Wood, Fiona Crawford