Nick Cave announced Grinderman are "over" at a festival in Australia.

As the band, a side-project for Cave and three members of his long-time band The Bad Seeds, closed their set at the Meredith Music Festival in Victoria this weekend, Cave dramatically announced that Grinderman were no more.

Cave said:
"That's it for Grinderman. It's over."

He added: "See you all in another ten years when we'll be even older and uglier."

The band left the stage without fuss, leaving many of the 12,000-strong crowd wondering if Cave was serious.

Grinderman began in 2006 and featured Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos in the line-up alongside Cave.

The quartet released two albums; the self-titled debut in 2007 and a follow up, Grinderman 2, in 2010.

The Meredith festival was the last stop on their recent Australian tour.