· BAFTAs red carpet: Best and worst dressed

Cate Blanchett’s chances of winning a second Oscar have been given a boost after she won a third British film award for her turn as a fallen Manhattan socialite in Woody Allen’s tragic comedy Blue Jasmine.

Blanchett was an almost unbackable favourite to take out the leading actress Bafta and duly beat four other nominees including British stars Judi Dench and Emma Thompson.

Chiwetel Ejiofor took out the leading actor award at London’s Royal Opera House on Sunday night for his performance in 12 Years a Slave.

Blanchett, 44, who previously won Baftas for The Aviator in 2005 and Elizabeth in 1999, didn’t speak to reporters as she walked the red carpet before the awards ceremony.

The Oscar winner has reportedly been keen to avoid questions about recent sexual abuse accusations directed at Allen by his adopted daughter Dylan with ex-partner Mia Farrow.

A week ago Blanchett joined hundreds of mourners at the private New York funeral of Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died of an apparent heroin overdose.

Blanchett picked up a Golden Globe for Blue Jasmine in January and has also been nominated for next month’s Oscars.

At the start of Sunday’s ceremony, host Stephen Fry singled out her performance in the “utterly compelling” film.

“She (Blanchett) plays a woman who finds herself penniless and on the verge of a breakdown after being betrayed by a wealthy, powerful man,” Fry told the star-studded audience.

“It’s loosely based on matters currently unravelling in the French presidency.”

Fry then quipped that given the audience’s muted laughter to his joke, it was clear they didn’t give a flying hoot about French politics.

While Baz Luhrmann missed out on a best director nomination for The Great Gatsby his wife, Catherine Martin, won two Bafta awards on Sunday.

#BAFTAs: The Great Gatsby has won best production design. pic.twitter.com/JkhFIxqbxO

— TOI Entertainment (@TOIEntertain) February 16, 2014

Martin picked up the production design award along with compatriot and Gatsby set decorator Beverley Dunn, before going on to take the best costume design award as well.

A host of other Australians nominated for their work in make-up and hair, costume, visual effects, producing and script-writing failed to claim a Bafta on Sunday.

The British film awards are seen as a dry run for the Oscars which take place in Hollywood on March 2.

The winners

Best Film 12 Years a Slave

Outstanding British Film Gravity

Director Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity

Leading Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave

Leading Actress Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine

Supporting Actor Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

Supporting Actress Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle

Full list of winners

Best film

12 Years a Slave 
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Gravity 
Philomena

Outstanding British film

Gravity
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Philomena
Rush
Saving Mr. Banks
The Selfish Giant

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer

Colin Carberry (writer), Glenn Patterson (writer) – Good Vibrations
Kelly Marcel (writer) – Saving Mr. Banks
Kieran Evans (writer, director) – Kelly + Victor
Paul Wright (writer, director), Polly Stokes (producer) – For Those in Peril
Scott Graham (writer, director) – Shell

Film not in the English language

The Act of Killing – Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sorensen
Blue Is the Warmest Colour – Abdellatif Kechiche, Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maraval
The Great Beauty – Paolo Sorrentino, Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima
Metro Manila – Sean Ellis, Mathilde Charpentier
Wadjda – Haifaa Al-Mansour, Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul

Documentary

The Act of Killing – Joshua Oppenheimer 
The Armstrong Lie – Alex Gibney
Blackfish – Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Tim’s Vermeer – Teller, Penn Jillette, Farley Ziegler
We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks – Alex Gibney

Animated film

Despicable Me 2 – Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Monsters University – Dan Scanlon

Director

12 Years a Slave – Steve McQueen
American Hustle – David O. Russell
Captain Phillips – Paul Greengrass
Gravity – Alfonso Cuaron
The Wolf of Wall Street – Martin Scorsese

Original screenplay

American Hustle – Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine – Woody Allen
Gravity – Alfonso Cuaron, Jonas Cuaron
Inside Llewyn Davis – Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Nebraska – Bob Nelson

Adapted screenplay

12 Years a Slave – John Ridley
Behind the Candelabra – Richard LaGravenese
Captain Phillips – Billy Ray
Philomena – Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
The Wolf of Wall Street – Terence Winter

Leading actor

Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Christian Bale – American Hustle
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips

Leading actress

Amy Adams – American Hustle
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks
Judi Dench – Philomena
Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Supporting actor

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
Daniel Bruhl – Rush
Matt Damon — Behind the Candelabra
Michael Fassbender — 12 Years a Slave

Supporting actress

Jennifer Lawrence — American Hustle
Julia Roberts — August: Osage County
Lupita Nyong’o — 12 Years a Slave
Oprah Winfrey — The Butler
Sally Hawkins — Blue Jasmine

Original music

12 Years a Slave — Hans Zimmer
The Book Thief — John Williams
Captain Phillips — Henry Jackman
Gravity — Steven Price
Saving Mr. Banks — Thomas Newman

Cinematography

12 Years a Slave — Sean Bobbitt
Captain Phillips — Barry Ackroyd
Gravity — Emmanuel Lubezki
Inside Llewyn Davis — Bruno Delbonnel
Nebraska — Phedon Papamichael

Editing

12 Years a Slave — Joe Walker
Captain Phillips — Christopher Rouse
Gravity — Alfonso Cuaron, Mark Sanger
Rush — Dan Hanley, Mike Hill 
The Wolf of Wall Street — Thelma Schoonmaker

Production design

12 Years a Slave — Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker
American Hustle — Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
Behind the Candelabra — Howard Cummings
Gravity — Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woodlard
The Great Gatsby — Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn 

Costume design

American Hustle — Michael Wilkinson
Behind the Candelabra — Ellen Mirojnick
The Great Gatsby — Catherine Martin 
The Invisible Woman — Michael O’Connor
Saving Mr. Banks — Daniel Orlandi

Make up and hair

American Hustle — Evelyne Noraz, Lori McCoy-Bell 
Behind the Candelabra — Kate Biscoe, Marie Larkin
The Butler — Debra Denson, Beverly Jo Pryor, Candace Neal
The Great Gatsby — Maurizio Silvi, Kerry Warn
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug — Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater

Sound

All Is Lost — Richard Hymns, Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Micah Bloomberg, Gillian Arthur
Captain Phillips — Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro, Oliver Tarney
Gravity — Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri, Chris Munro 
Inside Llewyn Davis — Peter F. Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff
Rush — Danny Hambrook, Martin Steyer, Stefan Korte, Markus Stemler, Frank Kruse

Special visual effects

Gravity — Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould, Nikki Penny
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug — Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds
Iron Man 3 — Bryan Grill, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick
Pacific Rim — Hal Hickel, John Knoll, Lindy De Quattro, Nigel Sumner
Star Trek into Darkness — Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton, Patrick Tubach, Roger Guyett

British short animation

Everything I Can See From Here — Bjorn-Erik Aschim, Friederike Nicolaus, Sam Taylor
I Am Tom Moody — Ainslie Henderson
Sleeping with the Fishes — James Walker, Sarah Woolner, Yousif Al-Khalifa 

British short film

Island Queen — Ben Mallaby, Nat Luurtsema
Keeping Up with the Joneses — Megan Rubens, Michael Pearce, Selina Lim
Orbit Ever After — Chee-Lan Chan, Jamie Stone, Len Rowles
Room 8 — James W. Griffiths, Sophie Venner 
Sea View — Anna Duffield, Jane Linfoot

The EE rising star award

Dane Dehaan
George MacKay
Lupita Nyong’o
Will Poulter
Lea Seydoux