The 28,000-capacity Carisbrook Stadium was sold out months ago for Saturday night's rugby test match between New Zealand and Wales, but yesterday people were still desperately searching for a bed in the city.
"We are trying to book a room in Waikouaiti for a couple today," Dunedin City Council visitor centre team leader Louise van de Vlierd said.
"It looks like the closest we can get now is there or in Milton."The Welsh rugby team, though, should experience no problems with their accommodation.
Utility service company Delta would delay noisy sandblasting in Duke St, near the team's hotel, for the duration of their stay, a Delta spokesman said.
The test is expected to attract big crowds to the city, not least because it will be the last All Blacks test match at the South Dunedin stadium.
The next All Blacks game in Dunedin is expected to be played at the Forsyth Barr Stadium, in Anzac Ave.
For those unable to get to the game, a group of Octagon bars is setting up big-screen TVs in marquees.
Bar owner Phil Ellis said the marquees would go up today, but would have to be taken down before the All Whites match against Italy at the Fifa World Cup on Monday morning.
Some bars would still be open for that game.
For the rugby test, the Dunedin City Council had organised for food stalls to open in the Octagon between 5pm and 1am, council events team leader Marilyn Anderson said.
Extra rubbish bins and temporary toilets would be set up around the Octagon and Carisbrook and along the route between them.
To entertain those walking from the city centre to Carisbrook and back, a rock band would perform from the back of a truck, which would drive the route continuously from 5pm.
Dunedin Clutha police area commander Inspector Dave Campbell said there would be a heavier than normal police presence at Carisbrook for the test match, as it, like other international games around the country this rugby season, was being treated by police as a trial for the Rugby World Cup.
Extra staff would also be rostered on for the weekend's other potentially big event - the last two nights of the student pub the Gardens Tavern, at the opposite end of the city.
The North Dunedin pub has been bought by the University of Otago, which intends closing it.
Despite it being exam time, a lot of patrons were expected to visit the Castle St pub, known as The Gardies, over the weekend, Insp Campbell said.
Officers from Invercargill and Christchurch would arrive in the city today to bolster Dunedin staff for the weekend.
The additional staff were part of a police plan, similar to that used for the Undie 500 weekend last year, to deal with any disorder, he said.
"Our tactics and plans take cognisance of the lessons we have learned in the past."
The other emergency services said they had been involved in the police planning for the weekend.
The council has also imposed a temporary liquor ban on parts of North Dunedin.
The police have issued trespass authorities for some vacant flats in the student quarter and are putting on free buses from the area into town on both nights.
