Hancock Prospecting owner Gina Rinehart has reportedly acquired new shares of Fairfax Media on Tuesday, which could make her as the biggest single investor of the century-old company.

According to BusinessDay, one of Fairfax's numerous publications, the country's richest person had already secured additional five per cent through an unidentified broker and is working to raise her stake by up to 14 percent.

To lure fund managers, the paper reported that Rinehart dangled $192 million for a full 10 per cent addition to her existing Fairfax shares, en route to capturing some 10 per cent of the company's total equity.

Ms Rinehart's move prompted scrambling for Fairfax shares, which attracted record volume trading and closed at total value of $1.74 billion as of Tuesday's closing.

And the likelihood of further surge is almost automatic, according to CMC Markets strategist Michael McCarthy, who told BusinessDay: "When we see someone with the firepower to become a very substantial shareholder it's likely we'll see some traders jump in to try to ride the coattails of any updraft."

Ms Rinehart indeed has a deep war-chest to fund whatever her plans on Fairfax as her total net worth climbed to $20 billion in late January following a deal with South Korean firm Posco that allowed the steel maker more access on Hancock's iron ore mining activities.

Analysts view the latest Rinehart move as her efforts to possibly increase her presence on national media operations.

Prior to the Fairfax interest, Ms Rinehart purchased shares from Ten Network with initial investments of $165 million. That stake now amounts to 10 per cent, BusinessDay wrote.

Sources cited by Fairfax Media have hinted that Ms Rinehart may be planning to broaden her say on Australia's national affairs through her media acquisitions.

A taste of that notion is the prominent role played by the mining mogul when the resource community launched its fierce opposition against the minerals resource rent tax introduced by the federal government in 2010.

That suggestion was backed by Mr McCarthy, adding that "there is a long tradition of Australian magnates taking media stakes and it will be hard to avoid the perception this will be used as a soapbox."

"And if Rinehart gets 10 per cent, that will make her the largest single shareholder in Fairfax," the CMC Markets analyst.