ACTING Melbourne director of football Garry Lyon has denied the Demons put forth a lucrative five-year offer to Ross Lyon, who sensationally quit St Kilda on Thursday night and is expected to be announced as Fremantle's new coach on Friday.

In a remarkable evening for football, an unsuspecting Mark Harvey was sacked from Fremantle, effective immediately, and Lyon walked out on the Saints.

Both had one year left on their contracts.

Ross Lyon is expected to be announced as Fremantle's new coach on Friday, after agreeing to what The Footy Show speculated was a five-year deal to take over from Harvey.

Garry Lyon insisted there was never a five year deal worth $5 million on offer from Melbourne to the former St Kilda coach - as was reported - and said the recent linking of the two parties was "a joke that's run out of control".

"I'm happy to talk about it now because Ross Lyon is off the table so I just want to be really clear about this; there was never an offer put to Ross Lyon from the Melbourne footy club," he said.

"We've never spoken to Ross Lyon, I've never spoken to Ross Lyon.

"The only extent of the conversation has been with Craig Kelly, his management, and it was as simple as this; if Ross was available to talk, then we'd be interested in talking to him.

"There was never an offer put to him, we respected that he was going through the process with the St Kilda footy club.

"That was it. I think the fact I haven't commented on the coaching situation over the past three or four weeks, people have taken that as some sort of confirmation that must be happening.

"Nothing could be further from the truth. This five-year, five million dollar offer is fanciful and I've been sitting there for three weeks just laughing, thinking how does this get out of control."

Garry Lyon also revealed Ross had been dumped by management company ESP and manager Craig Kelly after instigating the deal with Fremantle on his own while Kelly was negotiating with St Kilda on his behalf.

"We were happy to [sit down with Ross] but as far as we were concerned from a management point of view, a deal was going to get done with St Kilda," Garry Lyon said.

"I think Craig Kelly and ESP would tell you that as well.

"That is why they are in shock tonight as well, blindsided, and they've terminated their contract with Ross Lyon."

It was put to Garry Lyon that current West Coast assistant Scott Burns was considered the "front runner" for the vacant Melbourne job, with a plan to recruit former Adelaide coach Neil Craig in a supporting role.

Garry Lyon refused to enter into any speculation regarding the direction Melbourne was headed, other than to confirm the club had interest in Alastair Clarkson before he was re-signed by Hawthorn on the eve of the finals. He said he was confident Melbourne was on the right track to finding a new coach.

"We have no front-runner and we continue to do what we've been doing for the past three weeks," he said.

"I don't want this to get into the situation we had with Ross Lyon.

"We're not talking about it. I'm consistent with that and you can take that as a denial or a confirmation, I don't really mind, but we're not commenting any further.

"We are absolutely confident with where we are at in the search for an AFL coach.

"We're not missing out on anyone. The only thing that's important is for the Melbourne footy club people to realise that we are absolutely on track."

Meanwhile, former St Kilda player and media commentator Michael Roberts told The Footy Show Harvey was "really emotional" about his swift departure from Fremantle.

He said the two had breakfast together in Perth on Thursday morning, and Harvey had been upbeat and there wasn't "a more positive person in regards to his role as a senior coach" at the time.

He also said Harvey had been in a list management meeting at the club three hours later when he was informed he had been sacked, and was told to leave immediately.

"He was really anxious and really disappointed, and then you know Mark, once he gets on a roll, he becomes pretty angry, so he's gone to ground," Roberts said.

"He just wants to be left alone and for everyone to respect his privacy and his family because this is like a tsunami that smashed him in the back of the head.

"He had no idea this was coming."

Harvey declined to speak to the program but Roberts said he would address the media soon after being blindsided by something that would have required "a lot of planning".