Elton John's people have pulled down his party tent and the Academy has rolled upits 500-foot red carpet.

Most of Hollywood is still hungover after celebrating the biggest event of the year but Elton is "as happy as Larry".

"I think most people had a fantastic night and we raised a lot of money," the piano man told me.

"People pay a lot to come and you want to give them value for money and make them feel welcome."

The annual fundraiser for The Elton John AIDS Foundation is $5000 a ticket, which includes a three-hour, five-course meal, a12-song performance by Elton John and the chance to party with some serious stars.

"My table is just so hot!" said Mary J. Blige, who did a duet with John.

"There was Ellen De Generes, Portia De Rossi, Billy Joel and let's not forget Sharon Stone. She was sitting right next to me. She's just so beautiful and funny."

Stone helped raise $5.1 million on the night by auctioning a 1974 vintage Corvette from her personal collection and indicated she'd go to any length "for such a great cause".

"I'm here whoring for money tonight," the sexy star announced before getting the bidding started.

"I'll take my trousers off if it will increase the price," John volunteered.

"I would too but you've all already seen that before!" Stone smiled and the 750 guests went wild.

Sean Penn, Tim Allen, Kate Beckinsale, Charlie Sheen, Simon Cowell and Minnie Driver agreed that the event was a great way to watch the awards and support a good cause.

Courtney Love, P. Diddy/Puffy/Sean Combs and Tara Reid were purely there for the party.

"I'm single and ready to mingle!" said Reid.

"Tonight it's going to go off!" said Combs as he headed to the bathroom. "This is just the first stop of many."

Best actress Marion Cotillard arrived after the Oscars with her little gold man in hand.

Nominees Tom Wilkinson and Amy Adams also turned up along with Calista Flockhart and Harrison Ford.

"I did a quick costume change," said Heidi 'hot' Klum who showed up with hubby Seal in a sparkly short silver frock. "You want to let your hair down - not worry about ruining your gown."

As for the host - who got just about everyone on their feet as he banged out 12 of his hit songs -the highlight for him"is going home afterwards, having a hot chocolate and being grateful that we raised a lot of money."

"Then we start talking about what we'll do next year."

Sal Morgan is an LA-based entertainment reporter who has covered Hollywood's hottest red carpets and biggest award shows. Sal's landed exclusive interviews with A-list stars such as George Clooney, Cameron Diaz, Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Keira Knightley, Demi Moore, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jessica Biel, Justin Timberlake, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Lopez and Drew Barrymore, to name a few. Now Sal's bringing the latest talk from Tinseltown to BigPond Movies.