International acts Calvin Harris, Tiësto and Example pumped the crowd up early before flying to the Stereosonic music festival at Sydney Olympic Park.

After his set, English singer and rapper Elliot Gleave, who performs as Example, told the Sunday Canberra Times the crowd was crazy.

''I love Canberra - I think a lot of people in Australia assume it's a quiet city but everyone's a student so they're all off their rocker,'' Gleave said.

Festival gates opened at noon and the last act was set to finish at 11pm with the British performer on stage at 1.30pm.

''I was worried, thinking, 'Is there actually going to be anyone here?', and they all came out. It's partly the fact that a lot of people are going to play Stereosonic afterwards, so me, Calvin and Tiësto are all on early but I really appreciate everyone being here. It's amazing.''

Gleave wowed the crowd with his chart-topping hits Kickstarts and Changed the Way You Kiss Me.

He encouraged young women to ''get onto the shoulders of the man next to them'' to the chagrin of security guards and organisers who had posted large signs stating there was to be ''no crowd surfing, no sitting on shoulders''.

Lauren Milne, 21, was excited to see Example and Calvin Harris. ''It's the perfect way to finish a university degree,'' Ms Milne said.

Her last exam is on Tuesday but she said she was planning to get ''pretty drunk''. ''I've passed the class already so it's OK,'' she said.

Early in the day, queues to get into the venue were long as security staff thoroughly checked handbags and asked young men to lift shirts to check for contraband. No liquids, including water and sunscreen, were allowed into the open-air venue.

Sunscreen was available throughout the venue but as the day wore on faces and arms still grew red.

''Being a redhead only being able to get sunscreen from the Cancer Council is pretty annoying,'' Ms Milne said.

ACT Policing said the crowd was pretty well behaved.

''There may be a few issues later on with alcohol,'' a spokesman said.