Protest at the choice of former Lendlease and Crown Resorts CEO Steve McCann as a new Scentre Group board member fizzled out at the mall giant’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, as over 94 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of his appointment.

The AGM – the first for new CEO Elliott Rusanow and the last for outgoing chairman Brian Schwartz – also revealed strong operating conditions across Scentre Group’s 42 Westfield malls over the first quarter of the year as customer visits increased 17 per cent to 125 million compared with the same period last year.