The first hint Christian Petracca got that Friday night would be special came as he left the house.

The Demons young gun was keen to get to the MCG early for the AFL elimination final with Geelong, the first final of his career.

With a bumper crowd expected, Melbourne had a plan to soak as much of the atmosphere in possible before the first bounce.

“I live in Richmond and it took me 45 minutes to get here in the car and usually it takes five,” he told AAP.

“It was a nightmare, totally crazy.

“You try and treat it as another game of footy. Except you can’t when you’re playing in front of 92,000.”

The second hint came from a teammate’s early enterprise which set the tone for a famous Demons demolition.

“When Vines laid five tackles in the first three minutes, we were looking okay,” he laughed.

Jack Viney, playing in his first match in two months, didn’t stop all night.

The returning skipper laid a game-high 11 tackles that was typical of Melbourne’s endeavour.

Recalled forward Sam Weideman booted three goals and showed an irrepressible attack on the footy, best afield in just his 18th AFL match.

James Harmes, Clayton Oliver and Angus Brayshaw were super in the midfield.

Tom McDonald was an incredible presence up forward, while the Demons backline kept Geelong to their lowest score of the season.

After spending so long out of the finals, Melbourne were simply hungrier and showed it.

Petracca said they kept their game plan simple in order to keep an extraordinary occasion as manageable as possible.

“We just said ‘focus on the basics, the fundamentals of the game’,” he said.

“What got us here. And that’s our contest.

“I thought our pressure in our contest was unbelievable in the first quarter. It’s what set us up.

“What the club’s gone through and what the senior guys have gone through, it’s been a long road but we’re here and we’re into our second final.”