Could you go three days without sleep for charity? These Canberrans did

Seventeen people qualified to compete for the brand-new VW Polo by raising the most money for their individual charities.

Then, they all gathered at a meeting place in Hall and had to keep one hand on the car for the longest, getting only a 10-minute break every two hours. (The original venue at the Canberra Outlet Centre was not allowed to be used because of COVID-19 worries.)

In the end, girl power won out with three women the last ones standing. Or sitting. But still touching the car.

And they kept a hand on the car for three whole days, getting no sleep during the torturous challenge.

The three women also came to a deal and decided to split the prize pool and donate the proceeds to their charities.

The total amount raised for all the charities throughout the challenge was $87,666.

Anna Reimondos, a research assistant at the ANU, was one of the three winners, fundraising for the Canberra Street Cat Alliance.

She and her two co-winners decided to make a deal at the 70-hour mark.

"We all realised we were all as equally stubborn and motivated to win," she said, with a laugh.

But it didn't end there. The three decided to continue for another two hours to get to 72 hours and make it a neat three days.

The other winners were Quen, raising money for the Domestic Violence Crisis Service and Sam Reichstein, whose charity was the ACT Rescue and Foster.

The car was sold to one of the participants' friends and the proceeds were split among their three charities.

The three women also donated some of their prizemoney, which included a $5000 second prize, to fourth-placed Ethan Hall, who was raising money for Pegasus.

Anna, 37, was well set up for the challenge, placing a chair close to the car and keeping her hand on the wheel. She even had a vase of flowers and a motivation board of photographs of rescued cats. Visitors came with food. And she also had a Kindle and Netflix to keep her occupied.

"After 24 hours it was really hard to concentrate and I just had to listen to music," Anna said, adding she was not immune to occasional crying spells as she endured three days without sleep.

"If you fell asleep, that's how you got disqualified because your hand would fall off the car. It was really tough, really hard. At one point I think I was hallucinating."

Quen, who preferred not to give her last name, stood for 70 of the 72 hours, doing a lot of leg exercises.

"To be honest, it was a bit of a blur," she said. "I think by the 30-hour mark, I didn't know what was going on and I was like, 'Right, stay awake, stay alert and stay focused'. It was pretty intense."

Tiny confirmed the car challenge would return next July.

His next charity fundraiser is Tiny's $10,000 Hole in One on December 11. It's all part of his goal to raise $2.5 million for Canberra charities.