Season 18

MasterChef Australia returns with auditions and 40 of the country's best home cooks are ready. Tonight 20 cooks have 90 minutes to cook their dream dish in order to win one of the 10 aprons on offer.

Another 20 home cooks enter the MasterChef kitchen to compete for 10 aprons on offer. For those who miss out, they learn there will be one final chance to cook for the last four aprons tomorrow.

Tonight, the 20 remaining hopefuls have a second and final chance to cook their way into the competition. Just who will score themselves one of the final four places?

Aussie Rock legend Jimmy Barnes set this season's first mystery box, inspiring the Top 24 with seasonal ingredients they love to cook with. Dish of the day will see its maker safe from elimination.

In the first elimination of the competition, 23 cooks will show the judges a window into their homelife, through a favourite dish that they cook at home for their loved ones.

It's the return of a MasterChef classic with an Invention Test challenging cooks to create an inventive dish using cereal.

The bottom five cooks from the Invention Test face off in a Pressure Test set by MasterChef favourite Maggie Beer, tasked with mastering her signature sour cream pastry in a high-stakes pie challenge.

It's Family Favourites week and social media sensation Andy Cooks (chef Andy Hearnden) is on the hunt for the ultimate breakfast, in an immunity challenge cook with 60 minutes on the clock.

In an elimination challenge centred on reinventing the judges' quick carb midweek dinner recipes, mistakes and time pressure sends one cook home.

It is the first team challenge of the series, and the contestants are all eager to see how well they can work together. The bottom two teams will find themselves in the elimination the following day.

Six contestants face elimination as they must create a dish that represent their family food traditions to fight for their place in the competition.

The Top 20 compete for Immunity from tomorrow's Elimination in a fruity Mystery Box challenge set by Catherine Zhang, marking the start of Viral Wonders Week

Viral sensation Victoria Minell (aka @recipesbyvictoria) sets a challenge to use one of her five viral ingredients in a 75-minute cook to save their place in the competition

Six teams will compete in their first service challenge, tasked with creating one perfect viral-worthy dish to serve to hundreds of diners, and impress a mystery social media-star critic

MasterChef alum and social media star Khanh Ong sets an epic challenge to create a bold, out-there sandwich with a banging cross section, to win the first immunity pin of the season