A host of artists performing at Australia's biggest outback festival are stepping up to play free shows for ticket holders turned away from this year's event.
Mundi Mundi Bash organisers, performers and venues in and around Broken Hill, in far northwest NSW, are putting on last-minute shows by some of the rain-affected event's favourite performers after the music and camping festival was forced to turn away thousands of ticket holders.
Troy Cassar-Daley and Shane Howard were set to follow their Thursday shows at Mundi with not one but two free gigs on Thursday night - at the Silverton Hotel and Broken Hill's famed Palace Hotel.
The shows follow a roof-raising set by Furnace and the Fundamentals at the Palace Hotel on Wednesday night, while fellow festival performers MiSex were due to play the Broken Hill Pub on Thursday night.
Fanny Lumsden, who plays the bash on Saturday afternoon, will play a free show later that night at the Palace.
Significant rainfall this week created what organisers called "extremely challenging conditions", forcing them to pause the massive days-long roll-in of campers on Wednesday and make the difficult decision to reduce the festival's capacity on Thursday.
Conditions eased on Thursday afternoon, with clear skies forecast on Friday and Saturday, but the damage had been done.
Festival founder Greg Donovan said the late downpours - likely to break Broken Hill's August rainfall record - had made up to 30 per cent of Mundiville, the bash's pop-up home, unsuitable for camping.
"It's been really challenging - had a lot of rain over continuous days but we're battling on," he said on Thursday.
"The show's now started, and I guess once the first band starts and the show's on, you feel a lot better - you feel like all the hard work you've done is actually coming to something.
"It's a really hard decision. My heart is broken to know that 5000 people have come to Broken Hill, they've been looking forward to going to the show and we can't get them in."
Donovan thanked those turned away for their understanding and patience.
"It's the last thing that we wanted but we want to make it up to you somehow," he said.
"Hopefully we can get you back next year and give you something really special."
Silverton and Broken Hill have swung into action to accommodate the disappointed but understanding ticket holders unable to access the bash, offering overflow camping at sites including the racecourse.
Broken Hill mayor Tom Kennedy said the 16,000 people who came into the region for the event were important because they spend money and "go back to wherever they came from and say we're the greatest place that's ever been".
"And that's what's really important because for the rest of the year people are coming out and visiting far western NSW and spending money out here but also making friendships."
Speaking ahead of his set at Mundi Mundi, Cassar-Daley said he wasn't surprised the event had sold out despite fuel prices and cost-of-living pressures.
"There's a lot of people who are semi-retired that are going 'look, we're a long time dead; I love live music - we're just going to fill up the car at whatever cost and get on out there and be a part of this'," he told AAP.
"I feel really proud of the organisers too for sticking to their guns and doing these festivals."
The Mundi Mundi Bash runs until Saturday, with artists including The Teskey Brothers, Wendy Matthews, Tim Finn, Baby Animals, John Butler and Jon Stevens.
"To the people who have made it here, we're going to give them a great time," Donovan said.
"The spirits are high despite the rain, the slush, the mud - I think people are just going with it - like Woodstock."
* AAP travelled to the Mundi Mundi Bash with the assistance of event organisers
