The hunt for the $55 million Powerball winner is over, just seven days before the prize money was set to be transferred to the Victorian State Revenue Office.

The Melbourne winner, who wants to remain anonymous, came forward to Powerball on Wednesday, holding their winning 50-game QuickPick entry that won the draw on January 11.

The winning ticket was bought at Scole Lotto & News in Brunswick, in Melbourne’s inner-north.

Owner Sam Misiano said he was relieved the winner had finally come forward.

“What a relief. We still won’t know who bought the ticket, if it was a regular or a visitor, but it’s just great knowing that it has been claimed and they can enjoy it,” Mr Misiano said.

The ticket was the only winning entry in the Powerball draw that offered a grand prize of $55 million – the highest Australian lottery jackpot in more than a year.

The ticket was unregistered, so Tatts had no way of contacting the winner with the life-changing news.

Powerball spokeswoman Bronnie Spencer said she was ecstatic that the winner had finally been united with their prize.

“We’re in the business of paying prizes, so it’s an absolute pleasure to finally deliver this multimillion-dollar win to the rightful owner,” Ms Spencer said.

“It’s fair to say this is the prize that has captured the imagination of the nation during the past five months.”

Under Victorian regulations, players have six months to claim their prize from Tatts before the money is transferred to the Victorian State Revenue Office.