ABC announced last week it would axe the high-rating television series after its fifth series, bringing the series to an end with a feature-length finale.

This came despite the show drawing consistently high ratings.

During 2016, The Doctor Blake Mysteries was the ABC’s most popular Australian-made program, averaging 1.659 million national viewers.

Craig McLachlan, the star of the show, took to social media on Tuesday to express his disappointment.

He said he felt the show could “run and run” and hinted that he felt the strong audience numbers would’ve been enough to keep the show afloat.

A change.org petition is lobbying people to join together and fight the axing, while a Facebook page has also been setup to try and save the show.

However, ABC’s head of scripted production Sally Riley said it was a tough call but the time was right to pull the pin.

“Dr Blake has had a sensational run on the ABC and we feel that the time is right to go out while we are still on top,” she said.

“We have a fantastic final season still to come and we look forward to wrapping the series up with a satisfying movie-length finale, as we bid farewell to an Australian TV icon.”