It is my understanding that STPC (stopover paid by carrier) packages are only provided when there is no alternative than to have a stop of 8 hours or more. You must book the next flight onwards, which must depart 8 or more hours after your scheduled arrival time.

As such, you cannot decide to ignore a quicker itinerary and expect to get a hotel paid just because you decided to unnecessarily lengthen your stopover in AUH. Additionally, even if there are no seats in your chosen class available on the next departing flight to your destination, meaning that you have no choice but to "lengthen" your stopover, you would still miss out because there should have been a quicker connection.

You can pay extra to travel on a later flight, if you wish - but in that case, you will definitely not receive a complimentary hotel room from the airport. They are only provided to customers who, due to Etihad's scheduling, must endure a wait of 8 hours or more at AUH. If you decide to book an itinerary that does not have you travelling on the very next plane to your destination after arrival, then you will receive nothing from the airline.

That said, given that you are in First Class, and that you are on a one-way, means that some of these "rules of thumb" may not apply.

There is no point "reading" anything - you must call the agent that made the booking (or the airline directly, if you booked directly with Etihad) to enquire about your eligibility for STPC.

Please, though, report back on your findings.

(Again, you MUST be travelling on a single ticket. If you booked India-AUH and AUH-Australia on separate tickets, then you will NEVER qualify for a stopover paid by the carrier. The first and most basic requirement is that the passenger in question is on a connecting itinerary).

This document on the Etihad website, which may be out of date, gives more details about the STPC programme.