Millionaire Hot Seat

Designed to be a faster-paced format compared to the traditional Millionaire, Hot Seat involves six contestants playing each episode. The contestants take turns trying to be the one in the "Hot Seat" who reaches the goal amount and answers the question correctly. The goal amount is the highest amount on the money tree (shown on the right) and is reduced by one step for every wrong answer given. The traditional three lifelines are replaced by a single "pass" lifeline, which will pass the current question to the next contestant in line (who cannot pass that question further) and send the current contestant to the end of the line.

Each question is given a time limit: with 15 seconds allocated for the first five questions, 30 for the middle five, and 45 for the last five. The timer starts after McGuire reads the question and the four possible answers. If a player fails to give an answer in the time limit, it is considered an automatic use of the pass lifeline. In the case that time expires and the current contestant cannot pass the question (either because they were passed the current question or they used their pass already), they are treated as if they gave an incorrect answer.

Unlike other Millionaire formats, the game does not immediately end on a wrong answer. Instead, the current contestant is eliminated from the game, the next contestant in line becomes the "Hot Seat" contestant while all remaining players move up one chair, and the goal amount is reduced to the next highest amount on the money tree. Once the players are shuffled around, a new question is now asked and play resumes. Additionally, contestants may not walk away from the game under any circumstance.

The game ends either when all contestants are eliminated or when the question for the highest value in the money tree is answered. If the question on the last tier is answered correctly, the answering player receives the value of the question. If it is answered incorrectly, the last player to be eliminated receives either nothing (which means that nobody receives any prize money for that show), or $1,000 if the fifth question milestone is reached. No final contestant has ever gone away empty-handed. Another difference from the traditional format of Millionaire, the only guaranteed sum of money is the $1,000 for answering the fifth question correctly. This sum will be awarded to the contestant that is playing the final question of the money tree or to the last remaining player after the other five players are eliminated.[21] If a contestant did not get a chance to answer a question and sit on the hot seat, they may get a chance to return at a later time to play the game as the producers often invite such contestants back. However, if a contestant had a chance to play a question but passed their place in the seat, they are eliminated and will likely not be invited to return.

During the second half of 2011, audio and visual questions were introduced to the format. Either an audio or a visual question would be asked once per episode, usually towards the beginning of the game.

During 2015, the "Switch" lifeline was added for contestants on the final question. This allowed the contestant to switch to a different question if they were unhappy with it. This feature was soon dropped on 8 May 2015, but was brought back for a week of episodes from 21 to 25 September of the same year.

Later in 2015, the "Ask a Friend" lifeline was added in for contestants. Similar to the traditional "Phone a Friend" lifeline, the contestant is able to ask their designated friend or family member in the audience to help them answer the question. Before the player can use the lifeline, they must answer three consecutive questions after the $1000 'safe level'. The feature was added for a week of episodes from 14 to 18 September 2015.

Starting 23 January 2017, Millionaire changed its format to mix both the traditional format with the Hot Seat format. In this format, the show was lengthened to a full-hour show and is divided into two parts: Fastest Finger First and Hot Seat.

In this version of Fastest Finger First, all six players use a touch screen to lock in their answers. The round is played similar to the original format of FFF, where there is a question presented with four possible answers and the contestant must lock in the singular answer to the question. (This is different from the second version of Fastest Finger First where the contestants had to put the four possible choices into a designated order.) A minor difference between the original version and this new version is that the players only have 10 seconds to lock in a guess rather than the normal 20 seconds. Additionally, some questions incorporate audio or visual clips or a visual still accompanying the question. In this part of the game, there are fifteen questions asked to all six players. Whichever player answers the most questions correctly in the shortest amount of time receives a bonus $1,000 cheque. That cheque is theirs to keep unless they choose to give it back during the Hot Seat game in exchange for a lifeline. After all fifteen questions have been asked, the game moves into the Hot Seat round starting with the player in the first player position (regardless of how they finished in Fastest Finger First).

The new Hot Seat round plays exactly like it did before with one exception; the player with the $1000 bonus from Fastest Finger First can now buy a lifeline when it is their turn in the Hot Seat. If a player is stuck on a question, they may return the $1000 cheque to McGuire to pick one of the following lifelines:

• 50-50 – The computer will randomly choose two wrong answers and remove them
• Ask A Friend – The contestant's in-studio companion (if one is present in the audience) will be tasked with talking to the contestant in the Hot Seat and guiding them towards the correct answer. The timer for the question is restarted and the contestant and companion will have to talk to each other to reach an answer before it expires. (By rule, the contestant still cannot turn to look at the companion.)
• Switch – As in "Switch The Question" where the current question is removed from play and is replaced with a new one.

To use a lifeline, the contestant will simply ask for a lifeline to stop the clock and McGuire will present the choices to the contestant. Upon resolution of the lifeline, the question clock will restart.

On 29 August 2016, 67-year-old Edwin Daly became the first Australian contestant (and the fourth worldwide) on the Hot Seat to win the top prize of AU$1,000,000.[22]