Sir Elton John pays tribute to his friend Olivia Newton-John at his Melbourne concert

Elton John has shown his support for Aussie icon Olivia Newton-John during his latest concert on the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.

The actress/singer, who is battling stage 4 breast cancer, was one of thousands of fans who packed Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night.

The veteran entertainer opened his show by addressing Olivia directly: “I’m a fan and I respect and love you so much and it was great to see you before the show, looking as good as you do. Bless you forever.”

Elton, who had been forced to cut short one Auckland concert, and reschedule two others until next year, revealed that doctors had advised him not to perform the Melbourne show. He said he told them: "Big kangaroo bollocks. I wasn’t going to miss this".