Auditions Auditions in front of the show's producers began in February 2012 in seven cities:
Hobart (
Hotel Grand Chancellor, 18 February),
Launceston (
Hotel Grand Chancellor, 19 February),
Albury (Albury Entertainment Centre, 22 February),
Dubbo (RSL Club Resort, 24 February),
Darwin (Crowne Plaza Hotel, 26 February),
Cairns (Shangri-La Hotel, The Marina Cairns, 28 February),
Brisbane (
Suncorp Piazza, 3–4 March),
Newcastle (Hunter Stadium, 7 March),
Sydney (
Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, 10–12 March),
Perth (
Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, 18 March),
Adelaide (
Adelaide Convention Centre, 20 March) and
Melbourne (
Flemington Racecourse, 24–26 March). Online auditions were also introduced into the season for the acts who missed out on auditioning in front of the producers. The successful auditionees chosen by the producers were then invited back to the last set of auditions that took place in front of the judges and a live studio audience. These auditions were held in three cities: Melbourne (
Hisense Arena, 3–5 May),
Gold Coast (
Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, 11–12 May) and Sydney (
Sydney Entertainment Centre, 17–19 May).
Super bootcamp The super bootcamp stage of the competition saw all four judges working together, unlike in previous series where they disband to manage their own categories. It was filmed on 28, 29 and 30 May 2012. The first day saw the judges split the acts into four categories: Boys, Girls, Over 25s and Groups. Each category was given a list of four songs which they had to choose from to perform for the judges. On the third day, the remaining 46 acts each individually performed one song to a live audience of one thousand. Five from the Boys and six rejected soloists from the Girls categories were asked by the judges to form two groups, The Collective (boy band) and Black Ivory (girl band). The 24 successful acts were: •
Boys: Josh Brookes, Matt Cenere,
Matt Gresham, Adil Memon, Carmelo Munzone,
Jason Owen •
Girls:
Bella Ferraro, Shiane Hawke, Bella Hunter, Morgan Sheather, Angel Tupai, Vendulka Wichta •
Over 25s: Danielle Blakey,
Chris Cayzer,
Samantha Jade, Justin Standley, Rob Vegas,
Nathaniel Willemse •
Groups: Black Ivory, D&D, Fourtunate, Good Question,
The Collective,
What About Tonight Judges' House The final round of the selection process, the home visits, saw the top 24 acts travel to exclusive locations around the world to find out which judge would become their mentor. The Boys, Girls and Over 25s travelled to New York City, while the Groups visited London. Each judge reduced their six acts to three, with help from celebrity guest mentors. The Boys were assigned to
Mel B and mentored by
Usher, the Girls were assigned to
Natalie Bassingthwaighte and mentored by
Kesha, the Over 25s were assigned to
Guy Sebastian and mentored by
Alicia Keys, and the Groups were assigned to
Ronan Keating and mentored by
One Direction. During the first day of home visits, each act was given a private mentoring session with their mentor, ahead of their solo performance in front of their mentor and guest mentor the next day. ==Acts ==