In the space of 12 months the Giants went from 11th to six points short of a grand final, and Giants coach Leon Cameron isn't underestimating the impact of the nation's capital.

The returns at Manuka Oval have seemingly shadowed the growth of the Giants – both on and off the field – with an unbeaten regular season record in Canberra corresponding with a best season yet.

Speaking at the Giants' AFL grand final lunch in Canberra, Cameron said the Giants had begun to build a fortress at Manuka Oval.

"Last year we won two out of three, this year we won three out of three," Cameron said.

"The boys love playing here, it's a great atmosphere. To regularly get that between 12 and 15,000 people here at home games, it's really good for us, [and] great for the community.

"We look forward to whoever we play here next year and it's really a great atmosphere coming to the footy here."

The Manuka Oval crowds peaked in GWS' round 19 thrashing of Richmond as 14,974 turned out in force – the biggest Canberra crowd in AFL history.

A spike in crowd figures suggests the Giants have been adopted as Canberra's team with nearly 40,000 charging through the turnstiles for three regular season fixtures.

It is close to 15,000 more than the return of the club's inaugural season in 2012.

"You can clearly see that momentum has built," Cameron said.

"There's lots of Giants supporters that have been there from the start and are starting to see the team progress and that can be only a good thing."

The Giants first finals stint ended in heartbreak against the Western Bulldogs, and Cameron said the vast improvement on recent years "was a good effort" but there was much work left to be done.

"Like everything you go and review and find out where you went wrong and you reload and go again," Cameron said.

"If you don't, then you get left behind. It's a really even competition, and there's never any guarantees. We feel as though we're on the right track but there's no guarantees."

As the season progressed, the Giants held their nerve to remain within reach of the top two, and slowly the club began to realise what they were capable of.

"I think we probably started to believe at the back end of the year that we might be able to do some damage in the finals," Cameron said.

"We did a little bit but not to the nth degree as we know, but I believe that we're definitely on the right track."

Cameron is refusing to rest on his laurels – he knows that another preliminary final berth isn't a given in such a tight competition.

After all, "there is 17 other clubs doing the same thing".