Scrutineering involves officials who have a knowledge of the sport, of the cars involved and what they must check on each car as they go through the field. A car is presented at scrutineering by the team in the final form that it will take to the stages, ready to rally. This includes the fitment of complete spot light arrays for night stages, for example. Scrutineers check for safety, so the cage is checked, the brakes and suspension are checked for fluid leakages that may indicate a problem, the steering is checked to make sure that the suspension and the steering itself are safe. They will also check the state of things such as the battery and the fuel system as they are vital to the safety of the car.
Fire extinguishing systems are also high on the agenda here.
There are strict safety rules that apply to each item, and the scrutineer will have had to do a course to learn these things, as well as keeping themselves up to date afterwards on the latest advancements in rally car technology. Some of these things are of course, basic roadworthiness items. FIA, the International body that runs motorsport, the FIA lay down laws that most of the World follow in this respect, and Australia is one of those. The car is checked for things such as performance enhancing modifications, and whether they are allowed in the class that the car will enter. So, now the car passes scrutineering and the team take the car away so they can get the car to the event the next day.