There was billionaire heir Lachlan Murdoch with his glamorous wife Sarah, a phalanx of models dressed to perfection, Kings Cross kingpin John Ibrahim, pop star Delta Goodrem, fashion designers Camilla Franks, Peter Morrissey and Collette Dinnigan, three of the Rabbitohs' celebrity Burgess brothers, pregnant model Megan Gale and enough socialites to fill a Randwick marquee three times over.

Even political power player Graham 'Richo' Richardson was there.

An urn filled with Charlotte's ashes was placed on the lectern at her memorial on Friday as one of her two big sisters, Vicky Dawson, gave an uplifting but emotional farewell to her sibling, nearly a week after she was discovered dead in her Woolloomoolloo apartment.

The walls of the auditorium at the Beresford Hotel in Surry Hills were adorned with huge posters of the former model and television personality, lit with hundreds of candles and surrounded by bouquets of white lilies as waiters proffered champagne among the broad cross section of Sydney social fauna who filed into the room.

Vicky Dawson told the gathering, ''there was no way'' her little sister Charlotte would want to miss out on her own memorial, reflecting on the late Dawson's acute sense of humour and her great achievements which made her family in New Zealand ''so very, very proud''.

"I could almost hear Charlotte screaming out at her cremation … saying to us 'nine f---king people! Is that all','' to which the crowd of 300 erupted in teary laughter.

Carrying a bag from Charlotte's favourite boutique, Cosmopolitan Shoes, as she took the lectern, Vicky revealed she had ''brought Charlotte with me''.

Dawson's long-time friend and confidant Alex Perry shared jokes with the crowd, reliving stories of his friend's ''slapstick'' antics, including the time she dressed up as him on a flight to Paris and kept a straight face as she ordered champagne from the flight attendants. He also talked of the quiet nights at home when he saw another side of Dawson, a woman who would trade in red carpets for a home-cooked roast in a heartbeat.

Foxtel director Brian Walsh paid a heartfelt tribute to his former charge, telling the room: ''I know that we tell ourselves that Charlotte is in a better place, but in truth, we all wish she was still here.

''In time let's hope we all take comfort in knowing that she is no longer in pain, because no one should have to suffer the anguish and the darkness that finally took its toll and took her life.''

Dawson was cremated in a private ceremony in Sydney on Wednesday. A small group gathered at the Woolloomooloo apartment where she took her life for an intimate wake that night.

The guests who were invited to Friday morning's memorial, billed as a ''celebration'' of Charlotte Dawson's 47 years of life, were asked to wear bright colours ''to remember Charlotte's colourful spirit''.

A long line-up of high-profile identities converged on the venue under a grey late summer Sydney sky. They included actor Peter Mochrie, socialites Melissa Hoyer and Jill Waddy, politician Alex Greenwich and Dawson's former modelling agent Ursula Hufnagl.

Channel Seven breakfast TV executives Michael Pell and Sarah Stinson mingled with Channel Nine personality Ben Fordham while Channel Ten entertainment reporter Angela Bishop circulated with Roosters captain Anthony Minichiello and wife Terry Biviano.

The memorial was held at the same venue where, two nights before, one of Dawson's peers, Kylie Minogue, took to the stage for an impromptu concert, prompting one of Dawson's closest friends to comment: ''I think Charlotte would like the fact they were sharing the same stage.''