But tight security and an impressive entourage around the singer meant pretty much no one got the elusive shot.

Except for one determined Canberran who seized the day.

Local developer Bill O'Neill, the managing director of Bond Projects, has been attending the ARIAs for years, thanks to a friend in radio.

He was with a group of mates on the red carpet at The Star on Wednesday night when they could see Williams approaching with said entourage.

"We kind of slowed down at that point hoping he would come past and we could get a selfie with him but he had quite a lot of people around him," Bill said.

But then Bill saw an opportunity.

"He was between interviews and a couple of metres away from me, so I quickly went over to him and said, 'Hey, Robbie, could I get a photo?' and he said, 'Yeah, no worries'," he said.

There was no time for any further conversation with the quick-witted Brit, with security apparently a bit shirty that Bill had managed to get the prized shot.

His effort was also caught the attention of press photographers and the photo of Bill taking the selfie with Robbie ended up on page 2 of The Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday.

"It's a real buzz, actually," he said, of being on the red carpet.

"There's celebrities everywhere and interviews going on and it's the sort of thing you usually only ever see on TV."

A "bit dusty" Bill said on Friday he and his mates had a great time at the awards ceremony and then partied the night away at The Marquee nightclub.