Robert Doyle's 'lechery' was well known at Melbourne Town Hall but the former lord mayor's influence was so powerful that no one could rein in the frequent touching, staring and lewd comments that forced Tessa Sullivan to resign, the former councillor says in allegations made public for the first time.

The explosive allegations contained in Ms Sullivan's statement of complaint to the City of Melbourne – revealed by The Australian Financial Review – paints a picture of a workplace in which its top office bearer acted with impunity towards other staff and one in which a culture of bullying dominated.

"I decided to resign from Council. It felt hopeless, it seemed everyone was aware of Doyle's lechery and nothing had ever been done. I also did not feel I could approach the organisation because Doyle's influence was so powerful at Town Hall," she says in the statement.

Ms Sullivan's resignation in December triggered three-term lord mayor Mr Doyle to resign and sparked a wave of allegations by other women that he also sexually harassed them. The case has forced organisations - including the Town Hall - to scrutinise how they respond to sexual harassment allegations. In Ms Sullivan's case, the lack of clear guidelines made it unclear for council CEO Ben Rimmer to know how to respond.

Ms Sullivan earlier this month asked the city's administrative head for access to a report into Mr Doyle's behaviour by an independent barrister Ian Freckleton. After that initial report was completed in January, Mr Doyle fell ill and has not responded to accusations made against him. Before he fell ill, Mr Doyle called the allegations "abhorrent" and said he would cooperate fully to clear his name.

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Last week, City of Melbourne chief executive Ben Rimmer said he had given Mr Doyle a final chance to respond to the interim report. The council has called a special meeting on Tuesday afternoon to get an update into the investigation.

A spokeswoman for Mr Doyle on Friday said the former lord mayor was not in a position to respond to Ms Sullivan's allegations.

"He continues to be unwell," she said.

In her statement, Ms Sullivan said Mr Doyle's behaviour began within months of her being elected in August 2016 as part of his majority-holding team on the council, Ms Sullivan said. He kissed and hugged various women in greeting and farewell but it became uncomfortable, she said.

"After a few months of my being in office, Doyle also started giving me strange 'side hugs' where he would pull me towards him and put one arm around my shoulder and the other hand flat against the side of my breast and ribs," she said.

"He started doing this a lot. I also noticed he would start to do it in front of people. So the arm around my shoulder was facing a person and would look like a normal hug, but the hand on the other would be against the side of my breast and ribs.

"Gradually, the hugs became more invasive. He would use the flat hand to push my breast slightly sideways. I would go home and tell my husband about it but it was just such a bizarre thing to explain these public, half hug/flat hand, half breast/half rib 'hugs.'"

He also boasted about his sexual prowess.

"Doyle would also tell me to trust no one, to only trust him and he would regularly call other councillors derogatory names," she said.

"He would also talk about really personal things such as how he and his wife slept in separate beds, that he had had a vasectomy but how things could still "work," that he was still virile."

He would frequently stare at her breasts and legs, she said.

"I found it hard to concentrate at work. I was anxiously always strategising ways to avoid Doyle. I would prepare my outfits the night before, trying to wear clothes that hid my cleavage or ugly stockings that hid my legs. I could not stand him looking at me, but he always would stare at my body.

During one meeting with representatives of a software company in November last year, Mr Doyle publicly humiliated her by beckoning him over to where he sat, Ms Sullivan said.

"He indicated for me to kneel beside him. I was mortified, this was a room full of people! I did so assuming I needed to in order to look at a laptop open in front of him," she said.

"Suddenly as I'm looking at the software Doyle jerks around and says "hello, how are you by the way darling?" and aggressively hugs and kisses me when I'm on my knees, in the middle of the meeting and with everyone in the room. I felt humiliated."

The city council already suffers from a culture of fear, the results of a leaked staff survey in January showed. Some details of Ms Sullivan's allegations – including that he grabbed her breast inside his car and joked about oral sex in a lift - have already been made public.

There was no way to safely and confidentially make a complaint against the lord mayor, Ms Sullivan said. The councillors' code of conduct required dispute resolution to be done with the Lord Mayor present and that if a dispute involved the mayor, the request was to be made to the deputy lord mayor.

Deputy lord mayor – and acting lord mayor – Arron Wood is also part of Mr Doyle's team.

"[Councillor] Cathy [Oke, who has made separate allegations of harassment against Mr Doyle] and I noticed there was no clear pathway for women to confidentially and safely report sexual harassment," Ms Sullivan said.

Cr Oke declined to comment. Late last month the council approved a recommendation to review its councillor code of conduct.

In her statement, Ms Sullivan said she could no longer stay in the position.

"I can no longer stay and be sexually harassed and indecently assaulted. I can no longer continue to live in fear of Doyle and not expose the truth," she said.

"It has taken me a whole year of suffering to be brave enough to talk about this. I know what he has done to me is wrong. It has ruined so many aspects of my life, my innocence and my sense of being."

Another councillor Jackie Watts, who in 2012 complained of bullying by Mr Doyle, said she was pleased he was no longer mayor.

"Robert Doyle's gone and that's a good thing for the City of Melbourne," Cr Watts said.