The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport announced in November 2013 that it would introduce the FIA Formula 4 category to Australia, following the FIA's development of the class as a cost-controlled entry point into professional single-seater racing. The official championship launch took place on 12 March 2014. Australian F4 cars were specified to use the French Mygale chassis powered by the Ford EcoBoost 1.6-litre turbocharged engine, with rounds scheduled in conjunction with V8 Supercars events. Cameron McConville was appointed Category Director, with Karl Reindler serving as Driver Coach and Driving Standards Observer.
Recreational vehicle manufacturer Jayco became the naming rights sponsor in December 2014 under a three-year agreement, giving the series its full title of CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship from 2015 onward.
The first round was held at the Reid Park Street Circuit in Townsville on 11 July 2015. AGI Sport's Will Brown won the opening race of the category's history, with Team BRM's Jordan Lloyd taking the round victory overall. Lloyd went on to secure the inaugural championship and a 150,000-dollar prize through Jayco's Road to the World initiative, which funded him a USF2000 seat in 2016. He also received a European Formula 3 test courtesy of Carlin Motorsport.
The series faced persistent grid-size difficulties from its first round, which attracted only 13 cars. That number was not exceeded until 2019, and then only once. The 2018 season never exceeded 11 cars per round, and the 2019 season saw only eight cars enter in all but one round. On 4 September 2019 it was announced the series would not continue in 2020, though a future revival was left open. Notably, Jack Doohan and Oscar Piastri — the two Australians who reached Formula One during this period — chose to compete in overseas F4 championships rather than in the domestic series.
On 28 November 2023, it was confirmed that China-based promoter Top Speed, which also organises the Formula Regional Middle East Championship and Formula 4 championships in the Middle East and South East Asia, would revive the Australian Formula 4 Championship. The revived series was structured as a Southern Hemisphere autumn-to-winter competition running from May to September, allowing cars and competitors from Top Speed's Asian and Middle Eastern series to participate and accrue additional FIA Superlicence points. Four rounds were to be held in Australia, with a spring final in Malaysia.
For 2025, Australian company AGI Sport took over promotion. The series was rebranded the AU4 Australian Championship in February 2025. That year's format introduced two classes — one for the original Mygale chassis and one for the Tatuus F4-T421 with Abarth engines, which the revived series had adopted — competing jointly in shared races, with the Tatuus drivers eligible for the overall championship and Mygale drivers contesting a separate category award.
The original championship used the Mygale carbon-fibre monocoque chassis with a 1.6-litre turbocharged Ford EcoBoost engine. The revived 2024 series moved to the Tatuus F4-T421 with Abarth power. The 2025 edition accommodated both generations simultaneously in a shared-race format.
Australian Formula 4 was established in line with the FIA's aim of providing a structured, affordable pathway from karting into professional open-wheel racing. Despite the original series' relatively modest grids, its framework contributed to Australia's integration into the FIA Global Pathway structure, and the 2024 revival reanchored that connection through a promoter with established Formula 4 infrastructure across the Asia-Pacific region.