Lifeline CEO Mike Zissler said more than 12,500 people had visited the three-day fair and that as of 5pm on Sunday the cash total was at more than $480,000.

''We won't have a final figure until later in the week but it looks as if we are going to break all records,'' he said.

Australian War Memorial director Dr Brendan Nelson officially opened the event which also hosted its first book launch - Rita Wagner's Menopause Makes Mummy Mental - which sold almost 50 copies.

Lifeline, which gives telephone counselling and support to people dealing with crises in their lives, was established here 43 years ago.

''It has been a remarkable journey,'' Mr Zissler said. ''We have grown from a small church hall to this [the EPIC complex].''

Lifeline's director of commercial operations Matt Heffernan said it was apparent people were planning for the event with the average spend per person increasing every year.

And records were making a comeback. ''Boxed sets are proving very popular. There was strong interest in the CDs and DVDs and 90 per cent of our games sold out in two hours,'' he said.