About 80,000 inbound and outbound domestic passengers moved through the airport on Friday,an airport spokesman said.
TheHerald spoke to travellers Nicola Kypteos and Maddy Caesar,who “just made it” on to the plane to Brisbane for their connecting flight to Bali on Saturday.
In the overflow area outside,barista Sonya Paridisis was charged with easing the pain for passengers with free coffee in the overflowing queue,which started to dissipate from 10am as travellers made their way through security.
A further 60,000 inbound and outbound travellers are expected on both Saturday and Sunday,followed by 70,000 on Monday.
An airport spokesman said it was important that holidaymakers continued to arrive at the airport two hours before their scheduled departure time.
The scenes are reminiscent of the long delays faced during the Easter long weekend when depleted staff in security and baggage check-in struggled to deal with the huge crowds.