The ABC has axed Australia’s only nightly satirical news program, The Roast, after three years on air.

The first series of The Roast consisted of one-minute online episodes in 2011, before ABC2 ran it as a two-minute program in 2012.

The Roast was extended to run for full10 minute episodes this year, but that has now been drastically reduced.

Stories are circulating in many media outlets about ABC programmes that could be affected by looming government funding cuts, but it is understood that the ditching of The Roast came from normal programming reviews.

“It's still unclear what show will replace The Roast on ABC2,” The Roast team said in an announcement this week.

“Being ABC2 we can assume the current frontrunners include insightful documentaries like I Married My Staircase, My Penis Is A White Collar Criminal and Dawn Porter: Almost Fell Over in the Shower Today.”

“We would like to thank you for all the support you've given us over the years. Especially those tax dollars you didn't have a choice about giving to us,” the six-person cast said in a later Facebook post.

“We'd also like to wish young, promising comedians like Shaun Micallef and The Chaser the best of luck as we pass the torch down to them.

“We have one more week left on the ABC, and we plan to give you our best episodes yet. Or failing that, the best episode we could make that day,” the team said.

Recent reports have claimed that the ABC may switch off ABC2 entirely, moving youth-focussed content like The Roast onto its iView online catch-up service.