The Green Machine will host an NRL preliminary final at Canberra Stadium for the first time on Friday night in what promises to be one of the biggest nights the venue has ever hosted.

The Raiders have been looking into the possibility of installing temporary seating for their historic preliminary final in the hope of breaking their own attendance record at Canberra Stadium.

The venue is eligible to host grand final qualifiers until the end of the 2022 as the NRL waits on the redevelopment of Sydney Football Stadium and Sydney Olympic Park.

Had Ricky Stuart's outfit charged into this position a year ago they would have been playing in Sydney. But now? They have a golden opportunity to book their place in a grand final for the first time in 25 years.

NRL chief Todd Greenberg says there is scope for this arrangement to remain in place long-term - and "spectacular" fans have a chance to show why it should.

For this could be one of the greatest nights in Raiders history - and a bumper crowd could see it become on the the finest spectacles to grace Canberra Stadium.

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So, which games is this one trying to live up to? Let's go beyond simple crowd figures and delve into the broader occasions.

The ACT Brumbies boast the three biggest crowds Canberra Stadium has ever hosted.

The biggest came in 2004 when 28,753 witnessed a first-half blitz that saw the Brumbies claim their second Super Rugby title in a grand final win over the Canterbury Crusaders.

Eleven months later 27,040 came through the turnstiles to see the Brumbies tackle the NSW Waratahs in the derby that was once the hottest ticket in town.

The hosts would lose that game. But what comes next had the Brumbies "as high as it gets" as they capped off a transformation from a disastrous rabble into world beaters.

The Brumbies became Australia's first provincial team to beat the British and Irish Lions since Queensland in 1971 when they scored a two-point upset on a freezing winter night in 2013.

"People ask me, how does it rate? It's one of the highlights of my life to beat the Lions," coach Jake White said.

One needn't go too far back in the history books to see which Raiders games have pulled the biggest crowds into Canberra Stadium.

The 2010 semi-final against the Wests Tigers drew 26,746 while officials increased the number of standing room tickets as they crammed 25,592 into the venue for a qualifying final showdown with the Cronulla Sharks in 2016.

The common theme? Finals which have both ended in heartbreak.

It is a trend the Raiders are desperate to flip as they prepare to host what may well be the biggest viking clap ever heard on Australian soil.

That in itself is saying something - because in 2016 Raiders captain Jarrod Croker "nearly blacked out it was so exciting."

That's not to say every big Raiders game on home soil has ended with those in lime green wondering what might have been.

Club legend Mal Meninga's final game at Canberra Stadium broke the then-venue attendance record when 25,253 turned out to farewell the barnstorming centre in the midst of a fairytale finish to his sparkling career.

It was a year that had simply everything - the buzz of the then-biggest average home crowd in Raiders history, the superstars of what many believe is the best club team ever and the way the city went wild for the Green Machine.

The day Raiders fans lined the fences to say goodbye to the club's best will go down as one of the city's most memorable, for there will never be another like Big Mal.

It can be so easy to overlook the role Canberra Stadium played when the eyes of the world were locked on Sydney.

Canberra hosted 11 matches across the men's and women's soccer tournaments at the 2000 Olympic Games with huge crowds turning out for the bulk of the matches.

Fifteen years after a diabolical playing surface needed to be painted green for the Olympics, Canberra Stadium became the darling of the Asian Cup.

The surface was labelled the best in the tournament ahead of a showdown between Iraq and Iran which turned out to be everything we had hoped it would be.

It was dramatic, it was controversial, it ended in a penalty shootout which sent the 18,291 fans in the stands into raptures.

It, like so many games before it, was unforgettable.

CANBERRA STADIUM'S TOP FIVE CROWDS

Crowd: 28,753 - 2004 Super Rugby final - ACT Brumbies v Canterbury Crusaders

Crowd: 27,489 - 2000 Super Rugby final - ACT Brumbies v Canterbury Crusaders

Crowd: 27,040 - 2005 Super Rugby - ACT Brumbies v NSW Waratahs

Crowd: 26,746 - 2010 NRL semi-final - Canberra Raiders v Wests Tigers

Crowd: 25,628 - Rugby league Test - Australia v New Zealand