Crown Resorts executive chairman Helen Coonan may well find herself at the top of the list of corporate sacrifices that the gaming giant will offer up as it battles to stave off the potentially “catastrophic” finding that it is unfit to operate its flagship Melbourne casino.

It’s clear that Crown is acutely conscious there is a serious risk that the royal commission will take a dim view of its efforts to instigate a major overhaul of its deeply flawed corporate culture.