IF THE AFL is looking for evidence to support scheduling a Thursday night final, it's arrived in the form of mega TV ratings.

The historic clash between West Coast and the Western Bulldogs was the highest rated game of the season so far with a peak national audience of 1.564 million free-to-air viewers on the Seven Network.

Another 420,000 viewers watched on Fox Footy, according to ratings data released Friday morning.

This doesn't take into account viewers who streamed the game to their mobile devices on the official AFL Live app.

Playing a final for the first time in the Thursday night timeslot was only possible thanks to the controversial 'bye weekend' after round 23.

The AFL introduced the weekend off to ensure teams wouldn't rest players on mass in the final home and away round. 

But it's had a number of flown-on effects including primetime slots for the EJ Whitten Legends Game and Women's All-Star Match.

Teams have also benefited by giving injured players longer recovery time, allowing a number of stars to play when they otherwise may not have. 

It remains to be seen if qualifying final winners are disadvantaged by playing only one game before another fortnight's rest.

The AFL has said it will review the success or otherwise of the bye weekend once the entire finals series is completed.