Oftebro crossed the line on his own in a time of 24:45.0, nearly six seconds ahead of the Austrian, before Finland's Herola crossed to take bronze 14.9 seconds down on the winner.
The Norwegian was lying in fifth place after the ski jumping, and started the cross country 22 seconds down on leader Ryoto Yamamoto of Japan. However, as Lamparter went clear on the first lap, Oftebro quickly made up the time on Yamamoto and formed a six-racer group.
Part of that group was Herola, who had made up the 32 seconds he started behind the Japanese after what he considered a disappointing jump.
As the halfway mark approached, it quickly became apparent that Herola and Oftebro were the strongest of the chase group, dropping their competitors and catching up with the Austrian.
The trio stayed together at the head of the race, until the final kilometre, when Oftebro pushed hard up the hill to leave the Finn in his wake, as Lamparter struggled to hold onto his coat tails.
Lamparter had no answer in the final stretch, allowing Oftebro to cruise over the line and soak up the atmosphere, as he remains on course for three golds at these Olympic Games, with the team event still to come.
For Finland, Herola has taken their tally of medals to four bronzes at Milan-Cortina. Eero Hirvonen, who finished third in the normal hill/10km, crossed the line in fifth place this time, meaning Herola and Hirvonen both have a third and a fifth place each in the Nordic Combined so far.
Finland's Wille Karhumaa completed the course in 16th place.