"You have to be at your best every meeting and then you have to have luck go your way in who you draw and what lane you draw during the heats. It all comes into consideration," Tungate, 29, who won the 2018 title, said

Tungate will be joined by fellow Hunter riders Sam Masters, who won the 2017 Australian championship, Heddon Greta's Josh Pickering and Buttai's Jye Etheridge in the field of 16 for the series which starts at Kurri Kurri on Saturday night and finishes at Gillman, in South Australia, a week later.

Tungate said he had been practicing hard and was pleased with his performance and the way the bike was set when he finished second behind NSW champion Jack Holder at Boxing Day's Jason Crump Invitational.

"Although I didn't win it was a positive, a good meeting before the Australian championship," he said.

"Second place isn't bad. My riding is good, but I made a mistake in the final. I kind of know what I have to do next time in that situation.

"Jack Holder is riding very well, but I'm just as sharp as Jack and all the other guys in contention, but you need to be smart as well.

"It is probably the most even field we've had in the Australian championship. There are so many good riders and anyone on their day can win.

"In the past with guys like Jason Doyle and Chris Holder it was three or four riders and then the rest of the field."

The field includes former world and multi Australian speedway champion Chris Holder, former Australian champions Tungate, Masters and Brady Kurtz as well as defending Australian Speedway Solo Champion, Max Fricke.

"You can't really afford a bad round, that's for sure," Tungate said.

Tungate said he liked the format of the five legs being held over a week.

He also likes the introduction of Speedway Grand Prix style semi-finals involving the top eight finishing riders and the first two from each semi advancing to the final.

"A good start to the series is important and that's why I did a couple of meetings before the series starts. You can find some good engines and get a good set-up before the titles start.

"I feel I've got the engines and set-up pretty well right, maybe I need to find a little bit more with one engine but I think I'm sorted for Kurri and it will be right for the rest."

Tungate said the five legs tested riders' ability on a variety of track sizes and surfaces.

"There are a mixture of tracks, Albury is pretty big, Undera is really small, it's a mixture of tracks different surfaces, some are smoother than others, some are grippier than others."

Championship calendar