Dozens of carts – some built to win, others built to simply turn heads – raced down the tiny town’s main street to the delight of hundreds of spectators.

“It blitzed previous years,” organiser Graham Murphy said.

“It’s the biggest billy cart derby ever.”

Mr Murphy said support from local media helped boost crowd numbers but the event had been building slowly over the years as well.

Read more: Hunter streets of years gone by

“It’s a bit unique,” he said.

“We close the main street of a town – not many people get to do that.”