London, UK - The dramatic journey to the Oscars continues, and the 76th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) just might have proven this year's awards season is even more contentious than predicted.

The Oscars race for Best Actor and Best Actress are neck-in-neck this year, and the BAFTAs have only intensified the competition.

Austin Butler's turn in Elvis just may have secured the edge over Brendan Fraser's The Whale performance with his victory at Sunday's BAFTAs.

The 31-year-old also reigned supreme at the Golden Globes, while Fraser nabbed the win at the Critics' Choice Awards.

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On the women's side, Cate Blanchett for Tár and Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once have been battling it out as frontrunners, with Blanchett taking home the top prize at the British ceremony. Yeoh previously beat out the 53-year-old at the Globes, while Blanchett won at the Critics' Choice.

Sunday's surprises were far more shocking in the supporting acting categories, where the clear frontrunners were upset in both races.

Golden Globe and Critics' Choice victors Ke Huy Quan (in Everything Everywhere All at Once) and Angela Bassett (for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) lost their races to Barry Keoghan (in Banshees of Inisherin) and Kerry Condon (in Banshees of Inisherin), respectively.

The upsets fueled a wave of frustration towards the ceremony's lack of diversity in the winner's pool, as the recipients in every single category were white.

While the acting winners all gave stand-out performances, many argue that the double frontrunner upsets and all-white victory pool is further evidence of the systemic bias against actors of color during awards season.

"Also, no one is saying someone should/shouldn't win solely because of their race. But you can’t tell me there isn't a structural bias against POC acting winners when they can have EVERYTHING going for them (acclaimed work, a Best Picture frontrunner, prior awards) and STILL lose," one user tweeted.

This year's Oscar nominations have also sparked backlash for systemic discrimination against actors of color after Viola Davis (for The Woman King) and Danielle Deadwyler (in Till) were both snubbed while Andrea Riseborough (in To Leslie) received a nod thanks to a last-minute, A-Lister-driven grassroots campaign.

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Whether the BAFTAs will prove an outlier this awards season remains to be seen. The upcoming Screen Actors Guild Awards will play a key role in predicting the Academy Award winners, as the night's victors will likely have significantly better odds at the all-important Oscars ceremony.

Of course, there's no way to truly predict the winners across the board, and as this awards season has pointed out, nothing's guaranteed.

The SAG Awards will be held on February 26, while the Oscars will bring awards season to a close on March 12.