The art festival, held in the New Acton precinct and around the National Film and Sound Archive on Saturday from 1-7pm, will be one of the last big events where Canberrans can come together en masse. From Monday, the federal government has advised gatherings of more than 500 should be cancelled or postponed to help combat the spread of coronavirus.

The festival's head of communications and music Michael Liu said "it's a bit of a last hurrah" due to the changes.

"At current projections we'll have had just over 10,000 people through by the event's end," he said at 3pm on Saturday.

"We're really grateful that the Canberra community has come out to support it."

The event was celebrating its 10th anniversary, and Mr Liu said after the government's announcement on Friday of the big event ban, they thought "long and hard" about whether to go ahead.

"After the ACT Minister for Health Rachel Stephen Smith said attending events like Art, Not Apart and the Brumbies were low-risk, we decided to go ahead," Mr Liu said.

"We decided that as an arts festival, we have a duty to inject a bit of joy in the community."

While Art, Not Apart and the Brumbies on Sunday afternoon will go ahead, many more events planned for the coming weeks in Canberra have been cancelled or postponed.

Rowing ACT has cancelled this weekend's two-day regatta, the biggest event on its calendar.

The Canberra Comedy Festival Gala, which was to be held on Tuesday, March 17, will be rescheduled to later this year. The outdoor events in Civic Square will not proceed. Further changes are expected to the program and updates will be provided to ticket holders, a statement said.

Canberra Symphony Orchestra's Llewellyn One: Organ Symphony will not go ahead on March 18-19.

The Canberra Craft Beer and Cider Festival, scheduled for March 21, has been cancelled.

The handmade markets planned for EPIC on March 21 and 22 will not go ahead.

The Cancer Council has indefinitely postponed this year's Relay For Life event which was due to be held at the AIS on March 28-29.

Canbeurovision will not be going ahead as planned, although organisers are hoping to hold it later.

Canberra Airport has postponed its annual open day, which was to take place on Sunday, April 5.

The National Folk Festival board is meeting this weekend, but no announcements have been made at this stage.

The Australian National University has cancelled all non-essential public events and social gatherings until late June.