Factional divisions within the City of Perth have been laid bare in explosive emails between senior executives, councillors and Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi, who was gripped by concerns her adversaries would use the findings of a $500,000 operational audit against her.

The emails, released under Freedom of Information, could give further ammunition to WA Premier Mark McGowan, who has made no secret of his desire to sack the council — which he has called "dysfunctional and chaotic".

He has also asked Cr Scaffidi to resign over her failure to declare gifts and travel.

An operational audit by Deloitte highlighted significant problems for the City of Perth's administration to fix, including revenue that was failing to keep up with costs and too many highly paid staff.

Emails reveal bitter factional divisions within the Perth City Council. ( Graphic: ABC News )

It attracted little media attention when made public, but the emails show Cr Scaffidi's focus was on why the report was released without a media briefing and what her adversaries might do with the findings.

"It was thrown out there like raw meat. Should have been 'managed'," she wrote.

In a midnight email to her chief executive, Martin Mileham, on June 1, copied to five of her favoured fellow councillors, Cr Scaffidi speculated about the McGowan Government's reaction.

"Given the State Government's desire to use [the City of Perth] as a punching bag — this could be inviting free hits from the Hill [Parliament House] tomorrow too," she wrote.

A council divided in two

Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi points the finger at her Deputy Lord Mayor, James Limnios, in the emails. ( ABC News )

The emails reveal how the nine-strong council has split into two opposing camps, although Cr Scaffidi denied on Facebook earlier this year the factions on the council were affecting its operation.

"It's naturally how people align according to political views. That's democracy, not dysfunction," she wrote in the Facebook post.

But in her emails to senior executives and other councillors about the audit, Cr Scaffidi excludes the councillors she has referred to as the "three amigos" — Deputy Lord Mayor James Limnios, Cr Jemma Green and Cr Reece Harley.

They also make it clear the social media accounts of Cr Harley were being monitored by fellow councillors, who sent screenshots of his posts to Mr Mileham and Cr Scaffidi.

In one of the released emails, Cr Jim Adamos contacted Mr Mileham to raise specific concerns about Mr Harley.

"We now have Cr Harley already creating a storm over it as it looks like he has tagged as many media outlets as possible which is really poor form. See attached so you can see what we are up against."

Then in her midnight email, a sick Cr Scaffidi — who "thanked" Mr Mileham for a previous email which had "pretty well ruined my night I can assure you!" — questioned what Cr Limnios would do next.

"I'm reliably informed one Cr is 'bashing it' for all it's worth on social media and tagging every media outlet under the sun. (Again … lack of a social media policy!). No doubt the Deputy will follow suit," she wrote.

When questioned this week about the factional divisions, Cr Scaffidi told the ABC she believed the council was operating effectively.

"Questions of alliances within council have been widely reported on, however, suggestions of ineffectiveness are incorrect as council continues to make decisions in the best interests of ratepayers and the community," she said.

"At the August 1 council meeting, for example, 22 of the 23 items on the agenda were carried unanimously."

Councillors comment

Speaking on the sidelines of a community forum in Perth, Cr Limnios reiterated his call for the Lord Mayor to step down.

"Sometimes desperate people do desperate things. Now, referring to me without my consent and sort of making allegations about me I thought was just interesting, to say the least," Cr Limnios said.

"There is a lot of paranoia within the city. [People have] just got to relax a little bit and we've got to get on with the job."

Cr Harley told the ABC the Council remained effective in passing policy, but acknowledged there were other problems.

"It is true to say that there are personality politics at play," he said.

"[There] has been a breakdown in the perception of the Council. I think we have lost the trust of a great deal of the public.

"We need to overcome that hurdle."