James Packer's emotional interview on the Seven Network's Sunday Night drew solid numbers but it was not good enough to beat the station once owned by his late father Kerry, the Nine Network.

Nine News won the first day of official ratings with an audience of 1.401 million while Seven's Border Security was second with 1.395 million.

Packer's open and frank interview, in which he shed tears when speaking about the time leading up to his father's death, on current affairs program Sunday Night pulled 1.346 million to be third.

The success of The Force - Behind The Line (1.339 million) and Downton Abbey, which returned with 1.331 million viewers, and Seven News (1.306 million) gave Seven five of the six most-watched shows for the evening.

The second session of Nine's one-day cricket coverage between Australia and the West Indies was seventh with 1.078 million.

Network Ten rounded out the Top Ten with MasterChef: The Professionals (1.028 million, eighth), Elementary (944,000, ninth) and Modern Family (922,000, 10th).

Elementary's ratings were down almost 300,000 viewers on its debut the previous Sunday.