The audition cities for AFI 3 were expanded to include 9 major cities in Indonesia, including Jakarta, Medan, Bandung, Semarang, Jogja, Surabaya, Denpasar, Makassar, and Palembang. In the finalist selection process this time there were 3 representatives in each city who would later be screened again through 3 pre-elimination concerts. Under the assessment of Trie Utami, Tamam Hosein, and the late Harry Roesli, 12 Academia were selected to continue to the next round.