The ACT Legislative Assembly committee received unprecedented interest in the inquiry, which was called for by Chief Minister Andrew Barr earlier in the year.

The review, to be completed by the end of 2019, would look at the three laws that govern billboards with a view to potentially update and simplify them.

The committee also recommended yearly compliance checks to ensure outdoor advertising was legal.

Speaking in a personal capacity, committee chair Caroline Le Couteur joked Canberra's absence of billboards could be one of the reasons why it made Lonely Planet's top three cities to visit list.

"There were 166 submissions [to the inquiry], only six supported any sort of increase in billboards," Ms Le Couteur said.

"I think it's clear what the people of Canberra want - they don't want more billboards, most of them want less billboards and the review should be done with that in mind."

The committee recommended the government also look at advertisements on public transport and at stops as part of the review.

Ms Le Couteur said there were safety and visibility concerns with ACTION's full-wrap buses.

"If you're running for the bus and it's a full wrap bus the driver isn't going to see you," Ms Le Couteur said.

"They're basically mobile billboards and we don't need them."

The committee heard evidence from industry advocates, government officials and members of the public over several months.

In its evidence, the ACT government said it could make money from selling advertising space on territory-owned sites but was unable to say whether all of the income would flow to government or whether the private sector would benefit.

The government also said they had not done "any specific modelling" about what revenue they could get from outdoor advertising. The committee recommended they do this as part of the review.

The Outdoor Media Association told the committee its members did maintenance on public infrastructure in other jurisdictions in exchange for advertising concessions.

The group said people felt "77 per cent more positive" about advertising when told it funded infrastructure, like extra lighting to deter graffiti around the sign, or a community garden underneath the sign in an industrial area.

The ACT has already given Adshel the exclusive rights to advertise in bus shelters it builds and maintains across Canberra.

However Canberrans pushed back strongly against any changes that would allow more signage across the territory.

"The submissions were just overwhelming. 'We don't like big signs', 'we think that's one of the great things about Canberra that we don't have them'," Ms Le Couteur said.

"On our number plates we decided we wanted to be 'the bush capital' and I think the people of Canberra have said to again, we like being the bush capital and part of that is no billboards."