But up to 10,000 protesters, almost all imports to Canberra, was significant nonetheless.

This was the biggest flexing of the movement's muscles since it first descended on the capital nearly a fortnight ago.

Whether Saturday will buoy it into growing deeper roots, or simply prove a high water mark, remains to be seen.

The answer will largely hinge on its ability to hold together, despite ideological ruptures and egos jousting for relevance at the top.

As The Canberra Times has consistently stressed, this is a broad and complex church. Simply dismissing it as far-right, or all white, is ignoring the many currents bubbling below the surface.

It is able to override previous grievances - the far-right standing alongside Indigenous activists - through a common enemy: the establishment.

That enables it to draw from all walks of life, but also threatens its ability to knit a coherent narrative together, save for the end of mandates.

Those contradictions were on full display on Saturday, and at scale.

One protester angrily rejects the moniker "anti-vaxxer". Why won't she get the jab then? Because it will kill her.

A man with a sign railing against socialism nods vigorously, as a speaker explains the Exhibition Park camp has created a new future based on the collective.

Another on the microphone claims the movement is ending tension over race and religion, used by the elites to divide the masses. The crowd cheers.

It's almost loud enough to drown out the young woman, just metres away, midway through an anti-Semitic rant about media ownership. The boy next to her nods along. It's unclear whether he agrees, or simply wants it to stop.

There are debates on the group's Telegram channel over whether the Bible "literally" feeds you. Some of EPIC's newest residents want food stocked up, regardless of how nourishing scripture is.

There are Free Assange banners, evangelical Christians. One man seemed to come to the landlocked ACT calling for an end to shark culling.

But one of its most intriguing features is the seeming alliance between an Indigenous rights movement and the sovereign citizens.

READ MORE:

In what seems to be a silver lining, a Caucasian man urges his listeners to respect the traditional owners of the land. The crowd is appreciative.

"But that's all of us," he continues. We're all Indigenous because we were born here, he says, completely warping the message he claimed to be an ally of.

A populist movement like this risks splintering without a centralised, charismatic leadership. It's certainly lacking that for now.

One faction, represented by a delegation allowed in to Federal Parliament by Craig Kelly, believes in using the system to achieve their goals. Many seemed under the impression they would receive an audience with Scott Morrison who, dodging a bad headline for the only time this week, wisely screened their calls.

But another, more hard-line faction wants the Governor-General to dismiss the government. They were prominent at Government House on Monday.

So where to now?

The campsite at Exhibition Park will be moved on by police on Sunday.

There are concerns about what happens when a ticking clock is placed in front of a frustrated mass movement.

Many protesters say they will comply with their eviction, and will find alternative sites in Canberra. Others claim they'll resist.

Many have nowhere else to go, their anti-vax delusions having alienated friends and cost them jobs back home.

Some are satisfied for now, pledging to return in a month's time ready to do it all again. But the hardliners describe this as treachery from "infiltrators", insisting there is no turning back.

It's hard enough finding a coherent message in this group.

Finding a coherent plan seems nigh on impossible.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: