The Crows 1.16.21 (129) defeated the Demons 1.5.5 (44) in front of a crowd of 12,594 - more people were expected on such a balmy night, although the telecast was only on a 20-minute delay locally - and will play in next Saturday night's grand final against the winner of the Geelong-Fremantle semi-final at Telstra Dome this Saturday night.
The Demons will play the Kangaroos in a NAB Challenge match at Princes Park next Friday.
Adelaide's previous three appearances in the grand final of the pre-season competition were in 1994 (a 34-point loss to Essendon), 1995 (a 30-point loss to North Melbourne) and 2003 (a 31-point win against Collingwood).
Melbourne has not played in a pre-season grand final since 1989 when it beat Geelong by nine points.
The Crows stamped their authority from the outset of this semi-final with two goals within the first two minutes. Luke Jericho and Brett Burton did the honours and went on to kick two and three more respectively as the home team led by 21 points at quarter-time, 24 at half-time and 57 at three-quarter time before cruising even further ahead in the final term.
The disappointing Demons enjoyed only one productive burst - a nine-point goal to Travis Johnstone and six-point goals to Nathan Jones and Chris Johnson in a three-minute spurt late in the second quarter after the Crows had led by 39 points at the 12-minute mark.
Adelaide's superior run, aided by slick handball - particularly with the first give - proved decisive to the extent that Melbourne failed to score in the third quarter and managed just three points in the final term.
The pleasing thing for the Crows was that they were able to produce and sustain such a skilful, but still fiercely competitive, style without at least six first-choice players - midfielders Mark Ricciuto and Simon Goodwin, defenders Nathan Bassett and Nathan Bock, forward Scott Welsh and on-baller Hayden Skipworth.
Burton, Ian Perrie and Jericho were lively forwards, McLeod was characteristically brilliant in the midfield, Chris Knights (early), Scott Thompson, Brent Reilly, Tyson Edwards and Matthew Bode also were busy midfielders, and Graham Johncock and hard-tackling Martin Mattner were solid defenders.
Adem Yze and Brad Green were clearly Melbourne's best, Johnstone was useful and young Matthew Bate showed some glimpses of his undoubted ability.
Adelaide coach Neil Craig said: "We played good footy but don't forget Melbourne has been around the country a bit. They had to go to Darwin (to play the Western Bulldogs two weeks ago).
"At this stage of the season, you just don't know where clubs are so you've got to be really careful with all that (assessment).
"You'd need to talk to Neale (Daniher) about their club but what I do know is they're going to be a pretty good side."
Melbourne coach Neale Daniher said: "The story of the night was we just couldn't get our hands on the ball. We were beaten around clearances, we were beaten whenever the ball had to be contested.
'We might have got back - sort of - a little bit in the second quarter but it was a familiar pattern all night, I thought. They were sharper, a lot quicker to the ball, ran harder … in all facets of the game.
"It just shows you, around the midfield I think about half-time it was 140 possessions to 90 and it only got worse after that. We just had an inability to get our hands on the ball first and make the Crows react.
"They were very proactive. They got the game going their way and we weren't able to put any pressure on them at all because there was no stage there where we were able to win first possession."
Asked whether the trip to Darwin had affected the Demons, Daniher said: "I don't know, I'm not sure, but we didn't look anywhere near on our game tonight.
"We just look forward now to round one. We had to go to Darwin and it was a hard hit-out last week (against the Brisbane Lions), and we didn't seem to have much tonight. So we've got three weeks to look forward to before the season gets underway."
ADELAIDE: 0.6.4, 1.8.8, 1.12.17, 1.16.21 (129)
MELBOURNE: 0.3.1, 1.5.2, 1.5.2, 1.5.5 (44)
NINE POINT GOALS - Adelaide: McLeod
Melbourne: Johnstone
GOALS - Adelaide: Burton 4, Perrie 3, Jericho 3, Thompson 2, Vince 2, McLeod, Biglands
Melbourne: P.Johnson 2, Robertson, Jones, C. Johnson
BEST - Adelaide: Burton, McLeod, Thompson, Johncock, Reilly, Mattner, Knights, Perrie, Edwards, Jericho.
Melbourne: Yze, Green, Johnstone, Bate
INJURIES: Nil
UMPIRES: Allen, Nicholls, Woodcock, Goldspink
CROWD: 12,594 at AAMI Stadium
