???A combined 2.7 million Australians watched competing reports about accused drug mule Cassie Sainsbury on Sunday evening.
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Barely 50,000 viewers separated the flagship current affairs programs of Channels Nine and Seven.
In a head-to-head battle at 8.30pm, 60 Minutes claimed the top spot with an average national audience of 1.356 million.
Seven's Sunday Night drew 1.303 million.
On Sunday, Sainsbury's lawyers lost a Supreme Court bid to block Seven's interview with her fiance, Scott Broadbridge.
Despite Seven's victory, Nine gained the upper hand with a story in its 6pm news bulletin.
The network reported that Sainsbury - in the months before her ill-fated trip to Colombia - was a sex worker at Club 220, a brothel 50 kilometres west of Sydney's CBD.
Another Club 220 sex worker said Sainsbury faked her own mother's death for financial gain.
This proved a great promotion for 60 Minutes, which enjoyed its highest-rating episode of the year.
The program expanded on these allegations, with her lawyer claiming the 22-year-old fell victim to an international drug syndicate, threatening to murder her family if she didn't act as a mule.
Sainsbury now faces 20 years in a Colombian prison for allegedly attempting to smuggle 5.8 kilograms of heroin - concealed in 18 boxes of headphones - out of Bogota airport.
Her lawyer, Orlando Herron, says the failure of her Australian gym business saw her fall prey to an internet ad, which offered a loan and a free trip to London.
At the last minute, her itinerary was changed to Hong Kong, Los Angeles and then Bogota. This is where a "mystery man" allegedly produced photos of her loved ones, telling her she had no choice but to comply with her demands.
Nine also claimed Sainsbury's Broadbridge was a "person of interest" in Colombia's police investigation.
On Sunday Night - which drew its second-biggest national audience of this year - Broadbridge said there were no secrets between him and his fiance. (Claims about Sainsbury's alleged sex work were not put to him.)
Broadbridge claimed Sainsbury had worked for a cleaning company formerly owned by her uncle. Yet her uncle, Neil Sainsbury, denied he had ever employed his niece - or even owned a cleaning business.
"I believe Cassie has a bit of a history of skipping from one place to the next if things get a bit tough," he said.
"I don't believe she was naive at all, she may have had knowledge, complete knowledge, of what she was doing."
Sainsbury's father said she and Broadbridge had planned - as early as January - to visit Colombia. He claimed they had an argument after he warned her not to do anything "stupid", and she reassured him she wouldn't go.
Sunday's No. 1 show, however, was Seven News, with more than 1.8 million viewers nationally. This was followed by its renovation reality show House Rules (1.7 million).
After a modest start, the program has overtaken Nine's The Voice (1.6 million) and Ten's MasterChef (1.1 million).
In the lucrative metropolitan markets, however, The Voice (1.06 million) pipped House Rules (1.05 million).
