Besieged media octogenarian Rupert Murdoch has commenced his three-week tour of his Australian backwater and Holt Street Kremlinologists have been busy piecing together his likely agenda.

There is much ado at The Australian this morning following the discovery that News Corporation's head honcho in Australia, Kim Williams, was not the only one to receive a Murdoch summons to New York over the weekend.

Power in Melbourne, as interviewee after interviewee tried to convince The Power Index, is quiet and amorphous, lurking behind every deal and decision but never fully revealing itself.

Who are the people shaping Australia's cultural heartland? In January, we start counting down the Top 10 Most Powerful People in Melbourne. Here, Andrew Crook presents the shortlist.