From 1968 into 1980, Advance found her home port in Darwin and was charged with operations in northwest waters of Australia. During this time, she was used for surveillance, anti-smuggling operations, survey platform and for search and rescue sorties. In 1968 - at the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union being the primary enemy - Advance monitored the suspicious Soviet trawler "Van Gogh" under the cause of spying and acted as a deterrent to such future actions. From 1975 into 1976, Advance made up the Australian naval force charged with ending illegal foreign fishing activities in the north. Advance managed to survive Cyclone Tracy during 1974 and undertook active patrols off of the east coast thereafter. In 1979, the boat starred as "HMAS Ambush" on the television series "Patrol Boat" and then served as a deterrent to terrorist actions again oil platforms in the region.
By this point, the Australian Navy was looking to its future and committed to the Fremantle-class patrol boat series. Fifteen of this class were eventually procured and their arrival signaled the end for Advance as an active frontline vessel. She was therefore relegated to training and eventually found a new home in Sydney with the Navy reserve component in early 1982. Decommissioned in February of 1988, the Australian National Maritime Museum took on ownership of the boat where she continues to be looked after today (2014). She remains in operational condition and actively takes part in some notable events while guided tours are made available.
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