The Project hosts: top, from left to right Susie Youssef, Georgie Tunny, Sam Taunton, Rove McManus and Hamish Macdonald; and bottom, from left to right, Waleed Aly and Sarah HarrisThe Project hosts: top, from left to right Susie Youssef, Georgie Tunny, Sam Taunton, Rove McManus and Hamish Macdonald; and bottom, from left to right, Waleed Aly and Sarah Harris. The Project will air for the last time on Friday 27 June and will be replaced by a new national one-hour 6pm news, current affairs and analysis show Photograph: Channel 10

Channel Ten’s The Project, a groundbreaking news and entertainment program which made a success of “news done differently” in prime time has been cancelled by the network after 16 years and 4,500 episodes.

It will air for the last time on Friday 27 June and will be replaced by a new national one-hour 6pm news, current affairs and analysis show after Channel Ten’s local 5pm news bulletin.

Launched in 2009 as The 7pm Project with co-hosts Carrie Bickmore and comedians Charlie Pickering and Dave Hughes, the panel show won a 2015 Gold Logie award for Bickmore and for later co-host Waleed Aly in 2017.

Aly, who joined in 2015 and is still on the desk with co-hosts Sarah Harris, Georgie Tunny, ABC radio presenter Hamish Macdonald, Sam Taunton, Susie Youssef and Rove McManus, gained a lot of attention for his Something We Should Talk About editorial segments.

Project creator Craig Campbell, whose company Roving Enterprises (co-owned by McManus) produced the show for Ten, said in a statement on Monday that 16 years ago he could not have dreamed the unique entertainment show would become part of a “grown-up news cycle”.

“We have an extraordinary team making this show every day and I know this news will hit them hard,” Campbell said.

Dave Hughes, Charlie Pickering and Carrie Bickmore on The Project
The show launched in 2009 as The 7pm Project with co-hosts comedians Dave Hughes, left, and Charlie Pickering, centre, and Carrie Bickmore, right. Photograph: Channel 10

The show won 11 Logie awards and one Walkley award. Network Ten highlighted its primetime contribution to progressive conversations about marriage equality, animal welfare, disability awareness, the NDIS, and domestic and family violence.

“The show has successfully balanced humour and heart with poignant discussions about current affairs and celebrity interviews that had the whole country, and sometimes the world, talking,” Ten said in a statement.

“The impact that The Project has had on the media and entertainment industry, countless careers, as well as on Australian society and culture, cannot be overstated.

“For the hard-working team still involved in delivering The Project, both at Network 10 and Roving Enterprises, we say a heartfelt thank you.”

Sunday co-host Macdonald wished everyone involved in the new show all the very best.

“I’m looking forward to watching,” he told Guardian Australia.

“It is a tough day for a lot of really wonderful professionals who I’ve had the privilege of working alongside both in front of and behind the cameras.