Over the course of the show, they develop an abrasive, tentative rapport – trading details for designer underwear – all while Vivian is just weeks away from giving birth to her first child.

The extent of Anna’s grift unfolds in a series of flashbacks, with each episode focusing on a different oblivious, naive or money-grubbing victim.

After establishing herself within the snobbish yet achingly superficial circles of New York high society, Anna unveils her grand scheme: the Anna Delvey Foundation, an exclusive members club and creatives’ refuge in the heart of Manhattan.

Exploiting her boyfriend, self-serving tech bro Chase (Saamer Usmani), for his cash and contacts, she moves on to old-money socialite Nora (Kate Burton), who introduces her to the city’s most prestigious architects, designers, restaurateurs and financiers, all falling over each other to get a piece of ADF, which promises to be the city’s ultimate VIP hotspot.

Vivian is also able to track down Anna’s cabal of BFFs, mostly thanks to her high-profile and hugely prolific Instagram account. Hotel concierge Neff (Alexis Floyd), Vanity Fair staffer Rachel (Katie Lowes) and personal trainer Kasy (Laverne Cox) all believed they knew the real Anna, the true friend behind the luxury wardrobe and oversized glasses, but the more Vivian tugs on the threads of their friendship, the more everything starts to unravel.

A Hong Kong Anna Delvey: the rise and fall of socialite Azura

Garner’s impressively off-key performance ensures that Anna remains a baffling enigma. Despite always appearing in the right place wearing the right thing, and knowing exactly what to order or what to say, Anna cast a slight, almost dainty figure, was relatively plain-looking, and was cold and calculating.

And that accent – a bizarre hodgepodge of indistinct East European inflections – is impossible to place. Anna claimed she spoke seven languages, yet is caught out by the most simple of phrases. Was it all an affectation? Did Anna even know what was true any more?

The show’s best decision is aligning Vivian’s struggle with Anna’s, as both women hustle to get their respective projects over the finish line in a male-dominated, money-driven society.

Burdened by a past journalistic blunder, Vivian has been banished to the darkest corner of the office, where a trio of ageing old-school hacks have been left to their own devices.

Inevitably, these insufferably accommodating veterans are all too willing to assist in countless hours of research and legwork, leaving Vivian free to hound Anna’s long-suffering lawyer (Arian Moayed) for access to her case files.

Inventing Anna is ultimately seduced by the same superficiality it is purportedly condemning, and falls short of its goal of being a skewering exposé of a sex- and money-driven patriarchy. But, truth be told, it’s precisely the show’s glossy, trashy tabloid quality that makes it so enjoyable to watch.

Inventing Anna is streaming on Netflix.