The absence of Warren Tredrea only served to create the chance for Chad Cornes to venture forward as Port Adelaide maintained their advance towards an AFL top four place with a record defeat of Melbourne.

The Power fired through eight first-term majors to effectively wrap up the contest inside a quarter.

They then finished off the Demons in merciless fashion with a 14-goal second half for a 25.13 (163) to 11.8 (74) final scoreline, the 89-point gap their widest-ever winning margin over Melbourne and enough to re-take third spot from the West Coast Eagles.

Versatile Brownlow Medal fancy Cornes and small forward Brett Ebert (both six goals) put on powerful displays up forward, while Shaun Burgoyne (four) and David Rodan (three) also helped torment the Demons' defence at various junctures.

Two hundred-gamer Peter Burgoyne was effective behind centre, wracking up 36 touches and starting countless attacks.

Brendon Lade and Dean Brogan were dominant in the ruck, and Kane Cornes, veteran Michael Wilson and Domenic Cassisi provided steel to block Melbourne's forward supply.

Only the third-term report of Toby Thurstans for allegedly striking James McDonald took some gloss from the result.

"It was almost an 'all played well' situation, Toby played well in the backline ... (Michael) Pettigrew, (Jacob) Surjan, I could roll off names," said Port coach Mark Williams.

"(Travis) Boak probably played his best game for us, (Justin) Westhoff did some wonderful things.

"All played well is a nice thing to say, it might sound a bit soft but I think that's how it was."

Melbourne youngster Michael Newton will also face a possible sanction for allegedly striking Peter Burgoyne in the last term.

On a night when many of Melbourne's 22 did not resemble players so much as marker cones for the Power to weave around, Brad Green and Nathan Brown were among the few to fight.

"We have to keep going, it's simple, the competition demands it and we demand it, we get to learn a few things about ourselves," said Demons caretaker coach Mark Riley.

"We've played Brisbane, the Kangaroos and Port Adelaide in the past three weeks, tough opponents who are all up and going."

Riley explained why Cornes could be damaging anywhere on the field.

"Unless you've got another Chad Cornes he is (almost impossible to match-up on), he's a massive man, he can go into the centre and get clearances and hard ball gets, he can sit behind the ball, he's a wonderful reader of the game," he said.

"Goes forward and you have to match up on him like a bona fide AFL forward, we didn't have anyone who could get anywhere near him."

Concern about Tredrea's knees was confirmed before the start as he withdrew to be replaced by Adam Thomson, but the lack of their skipper did little to quell the Power forward line from tearing Melbourne to pieces.

Ebert goaled within 20 seconds of the first bounce, and Rodan then Motlop made it three goals to nil inside four minutes, paving the way for a 36-point first-term advantage.

Cornes' third and fourth goals maintained a wide gap between the sides in term two, but much of the play was uninspired as the Power allowed Melbourne the chance to scrap with a handful of disposal errors, and the margin was 30 at the half.

Such mistakes were all but eradicated after the main break.

Stand-out among another eight goals was that of revelation Rodan, who shrugged off two tackles before kicking his second for the night.

Well clear at the turn for home, Port eased back ever so slightly but only narrowly failed to better their 91-point thumping of the Eagles two weeks ago.

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