The giant Spilt Milk concert at Exhibition Park got off to a fiery start on Saturday when a number of cars caught on fire inside the northern paddock off Old Well Station Road at Kenny.
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The blaze was extinguished but at least four cars were significantly damaged.
The cause of the fire is yet to be confirmed however it appears that the hot exhaust system of a car parked on a freshly slashed paddock of drying grass could have been the trigger point.
The fire started around 2.20pm and spread quickly to other vehicles inside the densely packed car park which held thousands of vehicles in several rows.
Fire crews and police were in attendance but the Emergency Services Agency's pumper was unable to get close to the fire because of the number of vehicles in the carpark and the potential for it to spread quickly.
Police, the ACT's fire brigade and the Rural Fire Service attended the scene.
The Emergency Services Agency issued an advice level warning for grass and bush fire at Old Well Station Road just after 3pm.
Thousands of people bought tickets to the concert at Exhibition Park, and the northern car park was almost full to capacity when the fire broke out.
Exhibition Park's northern car park had been slashed earlier in the week and the dry grass left in low rows in preparation for the large crowds, with many concert goers travelling down from the greater Sydney area.
Spilt Milk is the first major concert of the summer to be held in Canberra.
Spilt Milk attracts festival lovers from all over Australia, having sold out in less than 30 minutes every year since launching in 2016.
This year marks the first time the festival was held at Exhibition Park.
It followed a two-year hiatus due to the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions.
The rest of the festival seemed to go off without a hitch as thousands of punters piled into the grounds eager to begin celebrations.
On Saturday festival-goers could be seen waiting for public transport or walking down Northbourne Avenue on their way to Exhibition Park.
The line-up for this year's music festival included Flume, Stormzy, The Wombats, G Flip and Canberra's Genesis Owusu.
The festival will be heading to Ballarat on December 3, and the Gold Coast on December 4. This year's line-up also features Mallrat, FISHER, Ninajirachi, Spacey Jane, A.GIRL, PEACH PRC and more.
Roads and bus services were impacted by the festival throughout Saturday.
Northbourne Avenue was closed in both directions at Barton Highway to Antill Street at the service Station from 7pm until approximately 12.30am, Sunday.
ACT Health via Twitter urged festival-goers to plan ahead when it came to transport, particularly getting home late at night after the event.
They were also reminded to drink plenty of water, keep track of alcohol and caffeine consumption, and to stay sun safe.
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