Riley Keough – herself a well-known actress – is suing Naussany Investments, which claims that the mansion was used as collateral on a $3.8 million (worth around £3m today) loan taken by Lisa Marie Presley and never repaid.

The lawsuit alleges that the loan documents are “fraudulent” and that Presley “never borrowed money from Naussany Investments and never gave a deed of trust to Naussany Investments”, CNN reports.

The surprise auction was scheduled to go ahead tomorrow, Thursday 23 May.

Graceland was for many years described as the second-most visited home in the US after the White House, with more than 600,000 visitors per year.