The internationally acclaimed film Lion has swept the early prizes of Australia’s biggest film and TV awards, winning seven of eight feature film categories at the industry luncheon on Monday, before the main award announcements on Wednesday.

The spectre of sexual harassment allegations in the industry loomed over the luncheon, which was held two days after Geoffrey Rush stepped down as president of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts. Last week, the Sydney Theatre Company revealed to the Daily Telegraph that Rush had been subject to a complaint of “inappropriate behaviour” during a production of King Lear two years ago, an allegation the actor denies.

“In the current climate of innuendo and unjustifiable reporting, I believe the decision to make a clean break to clear the air is the best for all concerned,” Rush said when announcing his decision to step down.

While no mention of Rush was made on stage at Monday’s event, and the actor didn’t attend, the Aacta CEO, Damian Trewhella, used his opening remarks to draw attention to an upcoming Safer Workplace Strategies event in Sydney organised by Women in Film and Television (Wift). “Health and safety are paramount in a modern Australian screen industry,” Trewhella said, encouraging industry professionals to attend the event.

Lion, a co-production between the Weinstein Company and Screen Australia, stars Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman, and tells the true story of a man who used Google Earth to track down his childhood home. It was nominated for six Academy Awards and won two Baftas earlier this year, and on Monday won every category in which it was nominated: for best adapted screenplay, best editing, best cinematography, best sound, best costume design, best original music score and best production design.

Lion’s producer, Emile Sherman, told Fairfax in October that it was “incredibly distressing” to learn about the allegations against Harvey Weinstein, whose production company co-produced Lion. “Hopefully, this is a turning point not only in our industry but also for men in power in general,” he said.

The only remaining category for a feature film, best original screenplay, was won by Osamah Sami and Andrew Knight for Ali’s Wedding. “It means nothing and it means everything,” Sami said after winning the award, paying tribute to his father who died after a trip abroad with Sami four years ago. “That trip was me winning everything, so nothing will ever come anywhere close. I would swap 10 of these [awards] to spend an hour with him.”

Sami is also nominated for the best lead actor award, which will be announced at the main event on Wednesday night.

Monday’s luncheon also covered awards in the television industry, which were led by Seven Types of Ambiguity, the six-part drama based on the novel by Elliot Perlman. That series won three of the five awards it was nominated for: best direction in a television drama or comedy, best cinematography in television, and best editing.

“It’s a great honour for this particular show,” said producer Tony Ayres after accepting the award in lieu of director Glendyn Ivin. “We sweated blood for it. It took a long time in development, it took a long time to get it right.”

Bonnie Elliot was named best cinematographer for the series, only the second woman working in TV to win that award, the last being Mandy Walker in 1996 for Parklands.

“It’s been a slow process for us getting here,” said Elliot, who also said she explicitly aims for gender parity among her camera crew. “As Mandy Walker inspired me I hope to inspire other women to get behind the lens.”

She was not the only female cinematographer awarded on Monday: Jody Muston took the best cinematography gong for documentary, for Blue, with Jon Shaw. No women have ever won the award for best cinematography in film.

Another television adaptation, Wake in Fright, took out the awards for best sound and best original score for what composers Antony Partos and Matteo Zingales called a “visceral, psychological score; it combined a lot of recorded elements and was quite experimental in some degree”. Partos said the score was designed to give an insight into the protagonist’s state of mind.

In the documentary section, the Brett Whiteley documentary, Whiteley, took out four of the five awards it was nominated for, including best direction, best editing, best original music score and best sound.

Cleverman took home the best hair and makeup award for television for the second year in a row, and War on Waste won best documentary television program. Utopia won best TV comedy series for the second time, while Casting JonBenét won best feature film documentary.

Kitty Green, director of Casting JonBenét, said she hoped her win would inspire other young women to push for recognition in the industry. “People take one look at you and assume you don’t know what you’re doing,” she said. “You come up against that [resistance] a lot and eventually what I did was put my head down and made my own stuff.”

The Aactas also introduced a new best online video or series category this year, which was won by RackaRacka, a YouTube channel run by 24-year-old Adelaide twins Danny and Michael Philippou, known for their bizarre battle videos, one of which recently included a lightsaber combat sequence in a supermarket car park.

Other winners included Little Lunch for best children’s television series and Australian Survivor for best direction in a television light entertainment, lifestyle or reality series.