MasterChef Australia

A group of home cooks take part in the first of two audition shows, preparing their signature dishes in a bid to win a place in the main competition.

Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston present the second audition show, and with 18 places already taken, only six of today's hopefuls can go through.

The contestants take on their first proper challenge, preparing the dish they would cook every day for the rest of their lives if they were cast away on a desert island.

Yesterday's winners battle it out for immunity, cooking alongside celebrity chef Curtis Stone as he makes a classic steak and chips with bA©arnaise sauce.

The cooks face a mystery box challenge, choosing from ingredients including lemons, tarragon, calamari, spatchcock and mangoes.

Three cooks who failed to impress the judges in the last challenge find themselves facing a pressure test - a complex but delicate dessert set by professional pastry chef Darren Purchese.

Four of the amateurs are asked to prepare crunchy, crispy and juicy fried chicken with a sauce, with the chance to compete against professional chef Max Sharrad for an immunity pin.

The contestants are outside the studio for the first time, preparing a feast for the 150 volunteer truckers of Lions Need for Need, who deliver fodder to farmers in need across Australia.

The contestants who failed to impress in the last challenge face an elimination cook-off, producing dishes using their favourite and least favourite ingredients to cook with.

Nigella Lawson visits the kitchen for the start of a week-long visit, choosing the ingredients for today's challenge, including minced lamb, semolina, red plums and nigella seeds.

Nigella Lawson sets the five cooks who failed to impress in the last challenge a pressure test, in which they must serve up a perfect roast chicken with two sides and gravy in 90 minutes.

Nigella Lawson asks the contestants to come up with a custard-based dish as five of them compete in an immunity challenge, with the winner going head to head with pro chef Coskun Uysal.

The contestants prepare a three-course meal for 80 teachers at the State Library of Victoria, taking inspiration for their food from the menus of royal dinners from 1920 and 1954.

The contestants who failed to impress in the State Library task face an elimination challenge, tasting condiments before making their own - as well as a dish to go with it.

Rick Stein joins the judges and chooses the ingredients for the next mystery box challenge, including cuttlefish, pine nuts, basil, garlic, tomatoes, Australian raisins and marrow bones.

Pro chef Clare Smyth sets the cooks who failed to impress in the last challenge a task in which they must re-create her fiendishly difficult pear and lemon verbena vacherin dessert.

Former runner-up Matt Sinclair mentors four hopefuls through an immunity challenge - and for the first round they are allowed to cook using only a sandwich press, a microwave and a kettle.

The cooks take on a street food challenge, split into three teams to serve different cuisines - Malaysian, Indian and Mexican - and preparing enough food for at least 120 people.

Six contestants compete in an elimination challenge, naming the ingredients in a deli counter. The first three to make a mistake will then have to cook for their place on the show.

The amateur cooks are introduced to Secrets Week, throughout which a secret will be revealed every day, whether it be a secret ingredient, recipe, technique or even a secret chef.

The least impressive cooks from the last challenge fight for their place in the competition by serving up a paella - but to make things more difficult, they are not given a recipe.

Four hopefuls compete in an immunity challenge - and for the first round, the judges give them their secret sauces, asking them to choose one and make a dish that goes with it perfectly.

The cooks are split into two teams and challenged to serve up an Italian feast for 80 diners, with each group given a secret weapon - an Italian nonna to guide them in the kitchen.

Eight contestants fight for their place on the show. First up is a blindfold taste test, with the first four to make a mistake going through to the elimination cook.

The contest moves to Queensland and a mystery box challenge featuring local ingredients including coconut, blue swimmer crab, peanuts, quail eggs, lychees, oysters and pork belly.

Still in Brisbane after last night's food truck Invention Test, today's four cooking contestants arrive at Montrachet, one of the city's leading restaurants.

The contestants are excited about what lies in store and hopeful for their own opportunity to walk away with a coveted pin, as they are greeted by the judges and today's mentor.

The contestants arrive on the beautiful sunny shores of Noosa beach, met by the judges in front of one of Australia's most iconic surf clubs, the Noosa Heads Surf Lifesaving Club.

As QLD Week comes to an end, the losing team from yesterday's Team Challenge in Noosa arrive in the Gold Coast at beautiful Burleigh Heads, and are introduced to chef James Brady.

The contestants arrive home after a spectacular week cooking across Queensland. Happy to have survived following the eliminations, the group are greeted by the judges.

As the contest reaches the halfway stage, three hopefuls compete in an elimination challenge, creating a dish from a choice of proteins and other ingredients hidden beneath cloches.

Four hopefuls compete in an immunity challenge, each choosing one ingredient which all of them must use to create a dish - with the winner going up against chef Jesse McTavish.

The cooks travel to Hanging Rock, north of Melbourne, where they prepare a picnic for 100 hungry guests, serving everything in baskets which must each contain food for four people.

It's this morning after the Team Challenge at Hanging Rock and the contestants are stopped in the garden, where the judges and chef Maggie Beer stand alongside the cooking benches.

The battle to reach the final 10 intensifies, with Heston Blumenthal appearing as the guest chef. The contestants' Mystery Boxes are bursting and brimming with mixed lollies.

Three hopefuls compete in a two-day elimination challenge. Today they prepare four identical croissants and leave them in the proofing ovens overnight before finishing them off tomorrow.

Four hopefuls compete in an immunity challenge, making ice-cream cones - and the ice-cream to fill them of course - with the winner going up against professional chef Alice Wright.

The cooks are paired up and challenged to serve identical plates of sweet food. Communication is key, however, as they are separated by a wall and cannot see what each other is doing.

Six contestants face an elimination cook, with the judges challenging them to come up with a sweet dish that uses no sugar or any products that contain processed sugar.

The judges tell the Top 10 that this week there will be no bottom three and no pressure test. All they are looking for is the best dish - and they kick off with a mystery box challenge.

The hopefuls have 75 minutes to serve up a dish using the ingredients beneath a choice of cloches, including dorrigo pepper, white currants, lilly pilly, lemongrass and aniseed myrtle.

Three hopefuls compete in an immunity challenge - and in keeping with the Best of the Best theme, one of their ingredients is beluga caviar, which costs $9,000 per kilogram.

The cooks are split into two teams to prepare a four-course meal for 40 diners using celebrated produce including goat's cheese from Victoria and coral trout from the Northern Territory.

The amateurs face an elimination cook aimed at minimising food waste, using one of the most commonly thrown-out foods in Australia - milk, bananas, lettuce or bread - as a key ingredient.

The top nine are each given a mystery box which has appeared once before in the competition, to demonstrate how they have improved since last cooking with those ingredients.

The three contestants who performed poorly yesterday are challenged to serve up an intricate apple pie - knowing that for one of them, this is their last day in the house.

Four cooks compete for immunity, in a challenge that sees them given the same ingredients but being told they must all cook in a different style - Spanish, French, Vietnamese and Japanese.

The contestants take over the menu of a train running from Queenscliff to Drysdale, preparing a four-course vegetarian menu for 30 before boarding the train to serve 30 passengers.

Four hopefuls compete in an elimination challenge, bidding with minutes for the ingredients they want to use in their dishes. But the more they bid, the less time they have to cook.

The top seven kick off a week of challenges in Western Australia, where their mystery boxes contain local produce such as lamb loin, barramundi, mini pumpkins and sweet mandarin.

Five contestants take on a service challenge at a Perth restaurant, preparing five courses for 20 diners - and the makers of the best two dishes will join the cook-off for a final place.

Four contestants compete for the chance to win a fast-track place to finals week, shopping for ingredients before being given just 60 minutes to come up with an impressive dish.

With one contestant already through, the remaining six are split into two teams to provide a three-course meal for 25 diners each, using an array of local produce from Western Australia.

As the week in Western Australia nears its end, three of the contestants face an elimination challenge, with all of them desperate to make it through to finals week.

The top six arrive for finals week, bringing them a step closer to the finale. Today each of their mystery boxes contains a letter from home and an ingredient selected by their loved ones.

Three contestants compete in a pressure test that involves replicating a complex dish by chef Ashley Palmer-Watts that involves almost 70 precise steps.

The remaining hopefuls cook to win an advantage in tomorrow's challenge - and the judges give them an open field by allowing them to serve up anything they like in 75 minutes.

The contestants serve up a five-course tasting menu at George Calombaris' flagship restaurant, The Press Club in Melbourne, with the winner securing a place in the semi-final.

With one contestant already through to the semi-final, the other four compete in a series of culinary duels to determine who will grab the last three spots.

The semi-finalists enter the kitchen to compete for the chance to win one of the two places in the grand finale. But before they begin the judges have a couple of surprise announcements.

After 12 weeks of competition, the finalists enter the kitchen to compete for the $250,000 prize, with the judges claiming these are possibly the best finalists in the show's history.