Films meeting the aforementioned criteria were eligible to compete alongside those that have the traditional 2–4 capital city release.
The shorts were split into comedy, drama and independent categories, and received acknowledgements and certifications as chosen by the general public, and AFI and AACTA members.
In addition to this, the Academy announced that it the lowering of the entry fee into the official awards from A$396 in the previous year, to A$100 for shorts.
[12] Additionally, this category is now open to any film, television or documentary production, regardless of geography, which has had 100% of its visual effects and animation made in Australia.
[14] Both presentations took place at The Star Event Centre, the latter of which was broadcast on free-to-air Network Ten for the third year running, with an encore screening on subscription television channel Arena on 31 January.
[15] The luncheon was to be presented by Angus Sampson,[16] however, due to filming commitments he had to pull out from hosting duties and replaced by Australian actor Adam Zwar.
[22] The nominations event was hosted by Rob Carlton and announced by Susie Porter and Dan Wyllie.
[5] Of the nominees, Peter Spierig, and Michael Spierig's sci-fi thriller Predestination and Russell Crowe's The Water Diviner received the most feature-film nominations with nine, including Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.