Australia dominated on the first day of the third round of the SailGP season on Saturday as skipper Tom Slingsby nailed his starts to give the home team wins in two of the four races in tricky conditions on Sydney harbour.

The French team will return to action for the first time this year to ensure a full fleet of 12 boats takes part in the Sydney leg of the SailGP series on Saturday and Sunday. France missed the first two legs of the series in Dubai in November and Auckland in January because of equipment problems and will compete in Sydney with a new F50 catamaran.

Australia won two of four races on the first day of its home SailGP event on Sydney Harbour on Saturday to finish the day atop the points table ahead of Britain and a French team which made an outstanding return after missing the first two events of the season.

Australia have capitalised on some sizzling starts on day one of the Sydney SailGP event to lead by five points after winning the last two of the four races.