televised and anyone could attend. The successful auditionees chosen by the producers were invited back to the last set of the audition phase, which took place in front of the show's judging panel and a live audience. If there were three judges present during the auditions, the act needed at least two "yes" votes (three if there were four judges present) to gain the majority vote. The judges' auditions were held on selected dates and locations in a number of major cities of Australia, and were broadcast over the first few weeks of The X Factor. The show was open to solo artists and vocal groups aged 14 and above, with no upper age limit. Only a selection of auditions in front of the judges were broadcast, usually the best, the worst and the most bizarre. During the first season of The X Factor, each act entered an audition room and delivered a stand-up unaccompanied performance of their chosen song to the judges, without any instrumental music playing. Bootcamp and super home visits In the second round, participants who reach this stage are sent to a "bootcamp" to refine their performances, while they are organised into categories based on the conditions of their application. The first category consists of men and women solo acts aged under 24 – both categories were conjoined in the first series until separated in the second series – with the minimum age allowed being 16 (except for the third to seventh series where it was lowered to 14) then it got conjoined back in the eight series with the minimum age allowed being 14. The third category consists of men and women solo acts aged 25 and older (with the exception of 1 series were the minimum age was raised to 22 in series 8 and 24 in series 5). During the bootcamp stage (formerly lock down in season 1, and super bootcamp in seasons 4–6), each judge was assigned one of the four categories to mentor. It was usually held on three days. In seasons 1, 2 and 3, each judge was given 24 acts and had to decide on their 12 acts after day two, and their six acts after day three. Each judge was assisted by a celebrity guest judge who would help them choose their acts. In season one, the judges narrowed down their acts to five instead of six. In