Sally Capp has keen eyes. Merchant, at the foot of the Rialto Towers on Collins Street, has slate floors, bare brick walls and is modishly under-lit by low-hanging, tungsten-style bulbs. While I'm still peering through the gloom, she has already raised a hand in greeting.

Melbourne's lord mayor joins me at a table, tucked against a back wall. Her trademark scarf flung around her neck, blonde hair somewhere between styled and wind-swept, she looks quite the action figure.