The air was tinged with nervous excitement as more than 100 wannabe singers tried to hold themselves, and their voices, together.
The best anyone could hope for was to leave with a "maybe" from the judges, meaning in two to three weeks you might get a call telling you to fly to Auckland and audition in front of the judges and live audience. Or you might not.
The conversation between strangers waiting to audition centred around what songs they would perform and if they had ever done anything like this before.
As a journalist with a healthy amount of cynicism, I know a strong voice will only get you so far. You need to have a point of difference.