The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey has an extensive view of the copious number of massive stars in the 30 Doridus (30 Dor) star forming region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The first comprehensive census of hot luminous stars in 30 Dor is compiled within a l0 arcmin (l50pc) radius of its central cluster, R136. We investigate the stellar content and spectroscopic completeness of the early type stars. Estimates were made for both the integrated ionising luminosity and stellar wind luminosity. These values were used to re-assess the star formation rate (SFR) of the region and determine the ionising photon escape fraction. When studying the most luminous star forming regions, it is essential to include their most massive stars if one is to determine a reliable energy budget. Photon leakage becomes more likely after including their large contributions to the ionising output. If 30 Dor is typical of other massive star forming regions, estimates of the SFR will be underpredicted if this escape fraction is not accounted for.