The Victorian government is convinced the record crowd at the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix over the weekend is a sign Melbourne is returning to normal after two years of COVID-19 disruption.
The attendance at Albert Park over the four days of the event topped 419,000, making it the biggest crowd since the race moved from Adelaide to Melbourne..
Organisers say it also breaks the record for the most people at any Formula 1 grand prix anywhere in the world since the start of the pandemic.
More than 128,000 people attended the race on Sunday, while 123,247 people were track-side for race qualifying on Saturday.
Race organisers put the growth in attendance partly down to a new audience that had come to the sport through the Netflix series Drive To Survive.
Australian Grand Prix Corporation CEO Andrew Westacott described the race as "the event that kickstarts Melbourne's mojo" after two years of event cancellations and disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I just love that when we all walked around the venue that people were smiling, people were having fun, and people were rejoicing about what makes our city great," he said.
The Australian Grand Prix was cancelled on the eve of the race in 2020, and called off again in 2021.
The Australian Grand Prix Corporation said it would push for the Melbourne race to be reinstated as the season opening Formula 1 race, or be part of a double or triple-header with other races in the region.
"It's a long way to come along to Melbourne for a single race," Andrew Westacott said.
"MotoGP do it really well in the back end of the year where they have Malaysia, Japan and Australia in consecutive rounds.
"It might be possible to do that from a Formula 1 point of view, but it's not possible right now from a scheduling perspective."
Deputy Premier James Merlino said the record attendance was a sign Melbourne was returning to pre-COVID normality.
"The city was just buzzing over the last weekend and [it was] a great success," he said.
"Just the images of Melbourne that are broadcast to hundreds and hundreds of millions of people worldwide, it is a great advertisement for our state and for our city."
The event coincided with signs that foot traffic in Melbourne's CBD was returning to pre-pandemic levels.
The City of Melbourne estimates about $30 million had been pumped into businesses in the CBD over the past five weeks thanks to the Midweek Melbourne Money scheme.
The program, which comes to an end today, offers 25 per cent rebates on meals and drinks at city restaurants and cafes from Monday to Thursday.
"We are getting up to normal pre-pandemic foot traffic which is brilliant and we have been really pleased as well with the number of people using it for lunchtime, which supports workers returning to city workplaces," Lord Mayor Sally Capp said.
"We think with the number of people who have participated so enthusiastically we are going to see an ongoing support for our hospitality sector as we move forward."
