KEY POINTS:
MELBOURNE - Viewed has won the $5.5m Melbourne Cup in a photo finish at Flemington this afternoon, paying $46.50 for the win and $14.00 for the place.
Bauer was second at $6.50 for the place with C'est la Guerre running third paying $7.80 for the place.
Viewed's win gave champion trainer Bart Cummings his 12th victory in the race.
Viewed, ridden by Blake Shinn, just held on to beat the English-trained Bauer in a photo-finish to the 3200m race.
The John Sadler-trained C'est La Guerre finished third.
Coming from midfield, Viewed opened up a big lead in the straight before Bauer launched a late bid to be beaten by the narrowest margin.
"I thought it was all over until the last 50 yards ... then I wasn't sure," Cummings, 80, said.
It was Cummings' first Melbourne Cup win since Rogan Josh scored in 1999.
Shinn, last season's champion Sydney jockey, said he couldn't believe he won Australia's greatest horse race.
"I'm just speechless," the 21-year-old rider said.
"The tempo of the race helped him because it helped him settle."
Bauer, trained by Luca Cumani, did best of the international contingent.
Aidan O'Brien's trio - Septimus, Honolulu and Alexandra Volta - tried to break the hearts of their rivals by setting a ferocious pace.
However their challenge was over as the field entered the straight.
- AAP
