The Australian has achieved its highest ever weekday print and digital sales after producing the best performance of any major newspaper, according to the latest figures.
Monday to Friday paid print sales were down by just 2.1 per cent to 101,980 copies as circulation declines start to bottom out. The   January to   March Audit Bureau of Circulation quarterly figures show paid digital sales of The Australian increased by 14.5 per cent to 77,371.
Total paid masthead sales, including print and digital, grew by 0.8 per cent to 170,016, demonstrating that ever larger numbers of people are willing to pay for quality journalism across a variety of digital formats. 
The Weekend Australian's print circulation fell by 1.2 per cent to 227,465 copies, while its digital sales jumped 14.3 per cent to 77,453.
This means The Australian is now outselling its main competitor in the national premium -market - Fairfax Media's The Australian Financial Review - by two to one during the week, and a ratio of almost four times at weekends.
The Australian's editor-in-chief Paul Whittaker said print circulation was holding up well as digital subscriptions continued to grow strongly.
"The team at The Australian continues to break the biggest stories in the country and set the agenda in national affairs and business with the best opinion and analysis," Mr Whittaker said.
Chief executive of The Australian Nicholas Gray said The Australian and Weekend Australian "led the market", reflecting a commitment to "outstanding journalism" and the "sustained positive consumer response to the breadth and depth of coverage" in politics, business, education, the arts and other sections.
Mr Gray said The Australian continued to make headway with efforts to enlarge its web and -mobile audience without under-mining a growing digital subscription business, and more stable print circulation and advertising -revenue. "Digital subscriptions (including bundles) grew 15 per cent year on year reflecting our continued investment in great journalism and an accelerating focus on digital publishing innovation," Mr Gray said.
AFR print sales plummeted by 10.5 per cent to 50,288 copies for the Monday to Friday edition, while the AFR Weekend's circulation was steady, with a rise of 0.7 per cent to 62,345 copies, helped by two bumper editions due to Easter falling early this year.
The AFR Weekend is expected to become a digital-only product after Fairfax chief Greg Hywood recently indicated he could shut down its weekend print edition as well as weekday print editions of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
The Australian was one of three newspapers to grow its total year-on-year paid sales, along with News Corp's Herald Sun Monday-to-Friday in Melbourne, and the Saturday edition of The West Australian, published by Seven West Media. Big stories in the period included the Brussels bombings.
News Corp's The Daily Telegraph saw Monday-to-Friday print sales drop by 5.3 per cent to 241,372 copies, while print sales at The Daily Telegraph Saturday declined by 6.5 per cent to 247,946 copies.
The Sunday Telegraph's print circulation was off by 7.1 per cent to 434,045 copies. News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller said he was encouraged to see "strong growth" in digital subscriptions, multi-platform audiences and a "continued slowing of the decline" in print circulation.
Fairfax's Monday-to-Friday edition of the SMH saw print sales dive by 8.7 per cent to 102,512 copies, while the Saturday paper fell by 7.8 per cent to 191,728 copies. The publisher's Sun-Herald's circulation plunged 12 per cent to 196,060 copies.The company this week pushed ahead with 100 cuts to journalists from the Sydney and Melbourne newsrooms of the SMH, AFR and The Age. The Age's Monday-to-Friday print circulation reversed 7.9 per cent to 96,120 copies, compared to the weekday Herald Sun, which was off by 3.1 per cent 331,715 copies.