More than 250,000 people lined the streets to see The Beatles as they were driven from Essendon Airport to the Southern Cross Hotel during their 1964 Australasian tour.

Another 20,000 blocked the entrance to the hotel, on Exhibition St, as the Fab Four attempted to check in.

And yet another 20,000 crammed around Melbourne Town Hall when Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were treated to a civic reception.

“It was bitterly cold on the day The Beatles arrived in Melbourne,” Greg Armstrong, co-author of a new book, When We Was Fab: Inside The Beatles Australasian Tour.

“But, it was a time in history, a whole new paradigm,” Armstrong added.

“We used to step out to see famous people, we used to step out for an event. Beatlemania was the celebration of a new phenomenon … and things were never the same after that.”

The Fab Four performed at Festival Hall 60 years ago today. They also played on June 16 and 17, six shows in total.

The book, co-written with Andy Neill, features never-before-seen photographs of the hysteria

that engulfed Melbourne during The Beatles’ five day visit.

“It wasn’t only teenagers, it was mums and dads, grandmas … babes in arms,” Armstrong said.

“They were 20 deep, cheering, waiting for that motorcade to come through. People just wanted to get a glimpse of these boys.”

Fans crammed Exhibition St, where the band’s lodgings were located.

“There wasn’t an inch of space,” Mr Armstrong said. “Police had to wade into the crowd to rescue people. People were fainting, passing out, and getting hysterical.

“Then The Beatles arrived on the hotel balcony, and the whole place just erupted.”

Armstrong said the band’s visit to Town Hall was “a triumphant appearance … like emperors on stage.”

Di Rolle, a high profile Melbourne publicist who has helmed tours for Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond and Prince, was a 16-year-old Fab Four tragic, and secretary of a Beatles fan club, when the band came to Melbourne.

“When I look back, it’s like I met Mozart,” Ms Rolle says. “Meeting The Beatles, particularly John Lennon, is probably the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Ms Rolle went to two concerts.

“Everybody was transfixed … screaming, yelling, and jumping up and down,” she said, adding: “It didn’t matter that you couldn’t hear them.

“There were no flashing lights,” Ms Rolle said, “and no pyrotechnics. But it was extraordinary. You knew you were somewhere very special.”

Beloved music guru, Molly Meldrum, attended the June 16 show — and, more famously, was thrown out by security.

Meldrum, then a wide-eyed 21-year-old from country Victoria, was ejected from The Beatles’ concert, with his friend, singer Ronnie Burns, after an unfortunate incident.

“I was out of control, screaming,: ‘John, I love you!’ and ‘Paul, I love you!’. The security was a bit butch and they asked me to calm down,” Molly told the Herald Sun in 2015.

“For some reason, I got up, and this poor girl sitting in front of me … I grabbed her hair and pulled her down.

“They threw Ronnie and I out,” says Meldrum, still incredulous.

“I was outside on the street. By that time, they were doing Love Me Do and Long Tall Sally. I cried and kicked the door. I never saw the end of the concert.”

His boot mark, where he repeatedly bashed the door with full fury, is still imprinted on one of the entrances at the West Melbourne venue.