A method for performing inter-channel encoding of a multi-channel audio signal comprising channel signals for N channels, with N>1; wherein the method comprises, - determining a basic graph comprising the N channels as nodes and a dummy node associated with a virtual audio signal comprising a dummy channel signal with all samples being zero, and comprising directed edges between at least some of the N channels; wherein a directed edge from a source channel to a target channel indicates that the channel signal of the target channel is predicted from the channel signal of the source channel, thereby leading to a residual signal for the target channel as a prediction residual; wherein the dummy node avoids a directed edge from a node to itself, and wherein a directed edge from the dummy node to a particular target channel is indicative of an independent encoding of the particular target channel; wherein a directed edge indicates a cost associated with coding the residual signal of the target channel; and wherein the cost associated with the directed edge from the dummy node to the particular target channel corresponds to a direct cost for encoding the particular target channel independently; - determining an inter-channel coding graph from the basic graph, such that - the dummy node corresponds to a root node of the inter-channel coding graph; - the inter-channel coding graph is a directed acyclic graph; - wherein the inter-channel coding graph is determined such that the inter-channel coding graph is a directed spanning tree, notably a minimum directed spanning tree, of the basic graph; and - a cumulated cost associated with coding the signals of the nodes of the inter-channel coding graph is reduced compared to a cumulated cost associated with independent coding of the channel signals of the multi-channel audio signal; and - applying the inter-channel coding graph for inter-channel encoding of at least one channel of the multi-channel audio signal. - determining a basic graph comprising the N channels as nodes and a dummy node associated with a virtual audio signal comprising a dummy channel signal with all samples being zero, and comprising directed edges between at least some of the N channels; wherein a directed edge from a source channel to a target channel indicates that the channel signal of the target channel is predicted from the channel signal of the source channel, thereby leading to a residual signal for the target channel as a prediction residual; wherein the dummy node avoids a directed edge from a node to itself, and wherein a directed edge from the dummy node to a particular target channel is indicative of an independent encoding of the particular target channel; wherein a directed edge indicates a cost associated with coding the residual signal of the target channel; and wherein the cost associated with the directed edge from the dummy node to the particular target channel corresponds to a direct cost for encoding the particular target channel independently; - determining an inter-channel coding graph from the basic graph, such that - the dummy node corresponds to a root node of the inter-channel coding graph; - the inter-channel coding graph is a directed acyclic graph; - wherein the inter-channel coding graph is determined such that the inter-channel coding graph is a directed spanning tree, notably a minimum directed spanning tree, of the basic graph; and - a cumulated cost associated with coding the signals of the nodes of the inter-channel coding graph is reduced compared to a cumulated cost associated with independent coding of the channel signals of the multi-channel audio signal; and - the dummy node corresponds to a root node of the inter-channel coding graph; - the inter-channel coding graph is a directed acyclic graph; - wherein the inter-channel coding graph is determined such that the inter-channel coding graph is a directed spanning tree, notably a minimum directed spanning tree, of the basic graph; and - a cumulated cost associated with coding the signals of the nodes of the inter-channel coding graph is reduced compared to a cumulated cost associated with independent coding of the channel signals of the multi-channel audio signal; and - applying the inter-channel coding graph for inter-channel encoding of at least one channel of the multi-channel audio signal.