ELENA Duggan can sit back and enjoy the rest of MasterChef's California week after securing her spot in the finals.

The Noosa-raised cook, who works as a high school arts teacher outside of Sydney, earned a guaranteed spot in the Top 6 after impressing the show's judges with her unique combination of lavender and goat's cheese.

George Calombaris said the fragrant cheese gave the judges shivers down their spines.

The cheese accompanied her glazed quail dish with chutney and grapes.

"How bloody good is that?" Gary Mehigan said.

"It's double thumbs up, big smile on my face."

Matt Preston described the quail as a dish with all the boring bits taken out.

"Everything about it is joy," he said.

In a tightly contested cook, which took place at Francis Ford Coppola's Inglenook Estate winery, Ms Duggan beat fellow Noosa talent Matt Sinclair, Trent Harvey and Mimi Baines.

"It was such a beautiful day and this is the super icing on the really awesome cake," she said.

The show now heads to Los Angeles, where Ms Duggan has family based in Orange County.

The other six contestants will compete to avoid elimination on Thursday night.