Actress Frances McDormand made female nominees at the 2018 Academy Awards stand in solidarity with her as part of her moving and hilarious acceptance speech for the Best Actress Oscar.

The Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri star was visibly frazzled when she took the stage at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, politely requesting the crowd revive her should she pass out from shock.

“Ok. So I’m hyperventilating a little bit. If I fall over pick me up because I have got some things to say,” the 60-year-old said.

She thanked a handful of people before placing her trophy on the floor and announcing: “And now I want to get some perspective.”

McDormand urges Meryl Streep to her feet to lead the charge. Photo: Getty

“If I may be so honoured to have all the female nominees in every category stand with me in this room tonight,” she said.

“Meryl, if you do it everybody else will, come on,” McDormand joked of Oscars mainstay Meryl Streep.

“The filmmakers, the producers, the directors, the writers, the cinematographers, the composers, the song writers, the designers,” McDormand said.

“Ok, look around everybody. Look around, ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects we need finance.

“Don’t talk to us about it at the parties tonight. Invite us into your office in a couple of days or you can come to ours whichever suits you best and we will tell you all about them.”

Frances McDormand: “I may be so honored to have all the female nominees in every category stand with me in this room tonight… we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed.” #Oscars2018 (via ABC) pic.twitter.com/0YC8z75nR3

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 5, 2018

Last year’s Best Picture presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were invited back again despite their now-infamous error of announcing the wrong winner, and this time they got it right – naming fantasy film the Shape of Water as the category’s victor.

There were also emotional scenes as the 59-year-old Gary Oldman claimed his first-ever Oscar in his three-decade career for Best Actor for his performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.

The beloved actor thanked his elderly mother and made a stereotypically British request.

“I would like to thank my mother who is older than the Oscar. She is 99 years young next birthday,” Oldman said.

“And she’s watching the ceremony from the comfort of her sofa. I say to my mother thank you for your love and support. Put the kettle on.”

While presenting the Best Director award, actress Emma Stone roasted the tradition of all-male nominees in the category, broken this year for only the fifth time ever with the entry of Lady Bird director Greta Gerwig.

“It is the vision of the director that takes an ordinary movie and turns it into a work of art,” Stone said.

“These four men and Greta Gerwig created their own masterpieces this year,” she cheekily added, to cheers from the crowd.