Bernhard and his team-mates triumphed in a close-fought battle with the sister Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Andre Lotterer, Neel Jani and Nick Tandy during which the two cars were rarely separated by more than 10 seconds.

The two Porsches, racing in high-downforce configuration for the first time this season, swapped positions multiple times over the course of the six hours.

Lotterer appeared to have secured the victory over the final hour, pulling a 12s gap on Bernhard until the two cars made splash-and-dash fuel stops in the final 10 minutes.

Bernhard was stationary for 20s less in the championship-leading Porsche, which allowed it to take the victory in what was clearly an orchestrated move.

It was a great day for Porsche and a great team effort; both cars would have deserved the victory because it was close for the whole race," said Bernhard.

Bamber added: "Our car was stronger on new tyres and the other car came on stronger later, but it was also about aero degradation - one minute we'd have the problem and then they would have it."

Toyota briefly took the fight to Porsche with the pole-winning TS050 HYBRID.

Kamui Kobayashi led to the first round of pitstops before handing over to Jose Maria Lopez.

The Argentinian driver was quickly passed by Hartley and then Jani, but remained in touch until the second fuel stops.

Lopez was unable to match the Porsches on his second stint on the tyres and dropped 20s before handing over the car to Conway.

The best of the Toyotas ended up more than a minute down at the chequered flag.

Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima, winners of the opening two rounds of the WEC, finished a distant fourth after losing five laps right at the start of the race.

Fuel pump failure meant Buemi had to complete the formation lap on electric power before pitting for a replacement.

Jackie Chan DC Racing trio Oliver Jarvis, Ho-Pin Tung and Thomas Laurent took a third LMP2 victory of the season in dominant fashion aboard their Jota-run ORECA-Gibson 07.

Jarvis battled with Bruno Senna in the best of the Rebellion ORECAs, but the Le Mans-winning car took control of the race in the second hour.

Senna, Julien Canal and Filipe Albuquerque ended up a lap down at the finish.

The Signatech Alpine team pipped the second Rebellion team to the final place on the class podium.

Its Alpine-badged ORECA shared by Nicolas Lapierre, Gustavo Menezes and Matt Rao sealed the spot ahead of Mathias Beche, David Heinemeier Hansson and Pipo Derani during the final hour.

James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi overcame early leader Porsche to claim GTE Pro honours for Ferrari.

Calado established the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE in the lead during the fourth hour and went on to claim the victory by 50s.

Frederic Makowiecki and Richard Lietz took second in their factory Porsche 911 RSR by just 8.7s from the sister car shared by Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre.

GTE Am honours went to the Dempsey-Proton Porsche driven by Matteo Cairoli, Christian Ried and Marvin Dienst.

RESULTS - 204 LAPS:

LEADING DRIVERS' STANDINGS: