The ABC's lightning rod for national debate and controversy Q&A returns to our screens on Monday night and it will literally be bigger than ever – with a post-show play-by-play called Q&A Extra making its debut to kick off the 2017 season.

Tapping into the audience and media interest that has given Q&A a post-broadcast after-life like no other program on television, the "soft launch" of Q&A Extra will be hosted by Tracey Holmes on ABC News Radio nationwide and broadcast as a Facebook Live event each week, starting immediately after the traditional television broadcast ends.

Tony Jones returns to screens on Q&A come Monday.

Q&A's executive producer Peter McEvoy told Fairfax Media: "We've come up with a new idea to focus some of that interest. The audio of Q&A is already carried by News Radio and they're going to start up a program talking about what happened as soon as the program finishes."

Q&A returns with a program coming out of Melbourne, a move keeping with the decision in 2016 to do more broadcasts away from its Sydney headquarters. The first panel for the year is Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, federal minister Josh Frydenberg, visiting American teenage climate activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Donald Trump supporter Helen Andrews and Menzies Research Centre fellow Daisy Cousens.