Increased crowd caps and the prospect of historic victories for Ash Barty and Rafael Nadal look set to salvage a successful Australian Open out of the wreckage of wild weather and the controversies over Novak Djokovic’s visa and Peng Shuai.

Victorian Sports Minister Martin Pakula said on Friday the crowd caps – already planned to be increased from 50 per cent to 65 per cent – would be increased again to 80 per cent for the weekend’s finals.