Mayor Sally Capp hopes a long weekend and the four-day Moomba festival, with performances from Kate Ceberano, the Rubens and Vance Joy to celebrate the life of the late Michael Gudinski, can get “Melbourne’s heart beating again”.

The council backflipped on a decision two weeks ago to cancel the festival – Ms Capp admits that was a mistake – and is launching a blitz to clean graffiti and litter from the CBD to lure back office workers after a year away because of coronavirus shutdowns.