Still booking flights weekly! cost vs flight times is a biggie. And yep, booking weeks out pays off. I'm flying a hyrid VA/QF trip this coming week, then a "proper" QF next week. Meanwhile, VA have send me a cunning email about indicating preferences for when they send my Silver FF "pack". Smart lot they are. Now when I book the next tranche of flights, I might favour them just so's I can put VA: Silver on my AFF membership thingy.
What I've found is, the best way to get the best prices with convenient booking procedures is: Google Flights. Once you've chosen your flights, it links you straight to VA to book and pay. For QF, you have a range of booking services to use, the cheapest is Jetsy or somehting like that. Jetzy?
Really convenient, and somehow, you end up with cheaper flights.