Rewrite rule to remove .php extension using .htaccess - .htaccess

Question

I have found many solutions on StackOverflow to handle this common problem but none seem to work for my setup. When I link to a php page I still see the .php extension and would like to have
index.php updated to 'website'
about-us.php to be website/about
I am working on a site using wamp / localhost inside a folder 'website'. I have my .htacces file located inside the root of the 'website' folder.
The rewrite condition / rule I'm trying to use to remove the .php extension from index.php and other php pages is this.
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.php
My links have URL's like this
<a href="index.php">
<a href="about-us.php">
Here's the full .htaccess file
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://%1/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.php
## EXPIRES CACHING ##
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access 1 year"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access 1 year"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access 1 year"
ExpiresByType image/png "access 1 year"
ExpiresByType text/css "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/pdf "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/x-javascript "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access 1 year"
ExpiresDefault "access 2 days"
</IfModule>
## EXPIRES CACHING ##
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
# compress text, html, javascript, css, xml:
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xhtml+xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/rss+xml
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/javascript
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-javascript
</IfModule>
# Or, compress certain file types by extension:
<files *.html>
SetOutputFilter DEFLATE
</files>

Answer 1

It's not actually "removing" .php from the URL, it works as redirecting.
In other words, if you don't want others see that .php in your URL, then you'll have to fix all your link.
i.e <a href='www.example.com'>
<a href='www.example.com/about-us'>
<a href='www.example.com/blog'>
You'll have to fix all your links inside your script.