The first day of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption was like an opera where hints of the famous arias tantalise and the audience waits for the diva to appear.

In this particular performance, it is the former prime minister Julia Gillard who is our much awaited star.

The synopsiscould read: Did Julia, a young lawyer, her judgement blunted by love of a union official, Bruce Wilson of the Australian Workers Union, help set up what she later called a slush fund?

Later, as Australia's first female prime minister, she would be dogged by allegations of scandal. A fierce Julia would insist she did nothing wrong. But her political enemies, inside and outside her own castle, pursue her like bounty hunters, determined to prove she is a liar and unfit for office.

The question now threatens to be answered with the return of a missing union figure from Malaysia.

On Monday, act one opened with the new protagonist, the now Malaysian-based Ralph Blewitt, a middle aged bald man, sporting an impressive white beard, in the witness box.

Blewitt was Wilson's sidekick 20 years ago in the WA branch of the Australian Workers' Union.

He told the commissionhe was simply following the instructions of Mr Wilson. Mr Wilson, he alleged, had directed the setting up of the fund and come up with the arrangement whereby Thiess,  now a subsidiary of Leighton Holdings, would pay thousands of dollars for a non-existent "safety consultant".

In the first two hours of evidence, Ms Gillard only got a mention or two. She had been at the meeting to discuss incorporation of the fund. Her handwriting was on a form but she did not sign it. Her signature tantalisingly appeared on a power of attorney she created for Mr Blewitt, who on the instructions of Mr Wilson transferred some of the funds to buy a house in Melbourne in Mr Blewitt's name.

It was Wilson who directed the withdrawal of $50,000 in cash that was later directed to union heavyweight, Bill Ludwig's internal union campaign, Mr Blewitt said. And it was Wilson who directed the $25,000 deposit for the house be paid out of the fund.

Outside the commission, things got more interesting. At lunchtime, Wilson scuffled with a News Corporation Australia photographer who snapped him in the street.

But in the afternoon, there were traces of that aria wafting through proceedings again.

In 1993 Gillard had been at her cottage in Abbotsford sitting on the verandah or perhaps the front room. Mr Blewitt had arrived with cash for Mr Wilson, who had had been out the back where renovations were taking place on either the kitchen or the back verandah.

Blewitt told the commission that he had seen Mr Wilson stuff $7000 into the bib and brace pocket of a tradesman.

It came tantalisingly close to confirming what Ms Gillard has vehemently denied - that money from the slush fund was used to pay for renovations at her house.

Mr Blewitt was asked whether Ms Gillard was present. "No," he said. "She was on the front verandah or in the front room. She was not not present when the the money was handed to the contractor or the builder," he said.

The hearings continue on Tuesday afternoon.