The first solar-powered cars to complete a 3,000-kilometer endurance race across Australia reached the finish line in Adelaide on Thursday, with Japan's Tokai University Solar Car Team coming in second place.

The World Solar Challenge is a biennial event, and the latest one began on Sunday, with 44 cars from 21 countries and regions setting off from the northern Australian city of Darwin.

Belgium's Agoria Solar Team claimed its first victory, arriving minutes ahead of Tokai's car.

"It feels amazing. Eight times our team has competed (in this race), and this is the first time we managed to win, so this is what we've worked for 16 years," said team leader Willem-Jan Claes.

(Agoria Solar Team from Belgium)

Tokai University came in fourth in the previous race in 2017, and general manager and driver Kohei Sagawa said the team never expected to take second place.

"The solar cells used on our car are the same as those used on normal homes, silicon cells. But many of the surrounding teams use compound cells designed for outer space, so we didn't think we'd be able to beat them," the 37-year-old said.

Director Hideki Kimura, 55, agreed that considering the differences in technology, placing second using silicon solar cells was "equivalent to winning."

Not all cars managed to complete the grueling cross-continental race, with leader Vattenfall Solar Team from the Netherlands forced to pull out on Thursday morning when its car, Nuna, caught fire just 263 km from the finish line.

(Tokai University Solar Car Team from Japan)

"It's a pile of ashes at the side of the highway," said event director Chris Selwood. "You can't even tell it's a shell of a car."

Selwood said the cause of the fire is still unknown, and the driver escaped the fire without injury.

Earlier in the race, strong wind gusts in central Australia on Wednesday blew several cars off the road, including then-frontrunner Team Twente also from the Netherlands.

"As an intellectual endeavor, it isn't easy. And I make no excuse for this being the most difficult solar challenge in the world," Selwood said.

"Over half the cars who left on Sunday won't get here within the regulations."

Four teams from Japan competed in this year's race, with Kogakuin University from Tokyo, the Nagoya Institute of Technology from Nagoya and Goko High School from Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, expected to reach Adelaide in coming days.