The punches were thrown in abject fury, Packer's face red and angry as he was pulled away from the Channel Nine boss by the billionaire's security guard.

This was much, much more than a couple of mates rumbling.

Fairfax Media has been told a Channel Nine news truck parked near Packer's home likely sparked the confrontation, but that was just a ''trigger-point'' to long-simmering tensions between the pair.

Packer's decision to end his six-year marriage to Erica, the mother of his three children, six months ago, is understood to be the cause of their falling out, with Gyngell understood to have confronted Packer.

''He has known James the longest; he was the only one who could tell him that he didn't like how he was behaving and it didn't go down well,'' friends said on Monday.

Since the marriage came to an end, Packer has been living life as a billionaire bachelor, running with the Hollywood set including renowned party boy, filmmaker Brett Ratner, with whom Packer has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in their new film production company RatPac.

The news truck led Packer to believe he was going to be greeted by a camera and microphone as he returned to his home from Sydney Airport.

Gyngell tried to reassure his friend in Packer's fiery phone call, saying the truck was parked there by coincidence as its driver lived nearby and was on-call.

He even headed there to personally investigate.

But when Packer alighted from his car to find Gyngell leaning, shoeless, on his car, the verbal abuse began, and quickly escalated.

Coincidentally nearby were two photographers, who captured the entire melee with long lenses.

In excess of 50 images and an accompanying video were sold on Monday to News Corporation Australia after a heated bidding war, understood to have reached close to $250,000.

Said to be sporting a ''huge shiner'', Packer did not emerge on Monday as news of the altercation broke. Instead, the world went to him.

Gyngell visited first thing, wearing a suit and looking less dishevelled than on Sunday. His beard was gone, too.

The pair releasing a joint statement a short time later: ''We have been friends for 35 years and still are. In that time we have had our fair share of ups and downs. We respect each other and neither of us will be commenting further.''

But the word is Packer and Gyngell are a long way off from any loving reunion.

About 12.45pm, Lachlan Murdoch, a great friend of Packer and Gyngell, and a non-executive co-chairman of News Corp, arrived in a four-wheel-drive and entered through a side entrance without commenting.

Before that, trusted Packer lieutenant John Alexander dropped in.

About 4pm, Channel Nine's Today host Karl Stefanovic arrived, remarking to waiting media as he slipped past: ''Anything going on in here guys?''

Having both attended the elite Cranbrook School, Gyngell and Packer have known each other for 35 years, their bond cemented by their respective fathers - Bruce Gyngell, the late television pioneer, was also Kerry Packer's confidant.

During their youth the boys were inseparable on the streets of Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Gyngell was a member of Packer's pack of four at Cranbrook. He told The Sydney Magazine in 2007: ''James Packer and I have been close since we were six or seven. It's brotherly, our friendship. We often played cricket with a bowling machine in their backyard in Bellevue Hill and Kerry [Packer] and Dad would come and watch. I was incredibly lucky; I had two fathers. Kerry was big and ugly and intimidating, a character of substance who never left you in any doubt.

''The Gyngells have a lovely affection for the Packers but the press has overplayed our relationship.

''I dropped out of school - Cranbrook - early. I wasn't an intellect. At 16, I thought, 'OK, I want to go out and be entrepreneurial.' My parents said, 'You want to grow up - you take the responsibility for growing up'.''

Gyngell was Packer's best man at both his weddings, while Gyngell and his wife, Leila McKinnon, are godparents to Packer's oldest child, Indigo.

McKinnon is about to give birth to their second child.

Packer and Erica's life was more domestic bliss than jetting around the globe. Their divorce settlement was handled swiftly, and now Erica has taken possession of a $13 million-plus luxury home in Bel Air.

Two weeks ago, Packer was spotted collecting his children, with his exchange with his former wife described as perfunctory at best.

Packer's rumoured new girlfriend, supermodel Miranda Kerr, flew back into Sydney on Friday. Kerr described Packer as a friend in an interview on Sunday.

According to alleged witness claims, people were spotted looking for teeth outside Packer's home shortly after the exchange.

With Lucy Carroll