That was the message from organisers of the rain-soaked 2026 Mundi Mundi Bash as an army of volunteers rose early on Sunday to help 10,000 campers begin exiting the festival grounds at Belmont Station, northwest of Broken Hill.
Bash founder and manager Greg Donovan said the rollout would begin with vehicles able to safely and independently leave the site before his team began helping those stuck in the mud.
Anyone unsure whether they could leave their campsite without assistance was advised to sit tight to keep roads clear for moving traffic.
"We know it will be a slow and challenging roll-out," Donovan told AAP.
"Our priority during the morning is to keep traffic flowing.
"Once roads are clear of departing traffic, recovery teams will begin assisting campers whose vehicles cannot independently leave their campsites."
He said the SES had briefed crews on best-practice vehicle recovery, with the operation to pause after dark and resume Monday morning.
Donovan said campers were welcome to stay put until Monday to give the site more time to dry out and recovery teams would remain to help if needed.
The festival was poised to welcome 15,298 people and 652 dogs in 6950 vehicles before wet conditions arrived.
The damp forced organisers to reduce its footprint - and the number of campers it could accommodate - by almost a third on Thursday.
The figure comprised 14,076 adults, including 152 crew and 695 volunteers, 1101 five to 17-year-olds and 121 children younger than five.
Performers, staff and ticketholders at this year's event were set to clock up more than 38 million kilometres travelling to and from Mundiville from throughout Australia, according to postcode data.
Volunteer Wayne Paterson tows his caravan from Adelaide each year and said while heavy rain had made conditions challenging, unpredictable weather was always a given for anyone visiting remote Australia.
He said everyone had mucked in across the weekend to help one another.
The convoy leaving Mundiville has become a must-see tradition as they weave back through the streets of Broken Hill to make the most of extra waste services and dump sites provided by council and restock before motoring home.
Bash regulars and Mad Max fans Jenni and Phil Denniss, who came from Dungog, near Newcastle with their caravan and puppy in tow, said adapting to the conditions was part and parcel of the Mundi experience.
"We take days to come ... the drive is about 10 to 12 hours but we break it up, staying at a few places on the way," Ms Denniss said.
The couple were among the festivalgoers who spent their first night camped out along the outer road in the wet before they were able to move to their campsite the next day.
"We were cold, we were wet - everyone just went to bed. It was windy," Ms Denniss said.
"We didn't know what was going to happen but we knew that Greg (Donovan, the event promoter) would work it out because he's a good problem solver."
Ms Denniss said she wasn't worried about how long it could take to bump out.
"If we get stuck here, we get stuck here," she said.
"I feel sorry for the people who couldn't get in but you can't control the weather. It is what it is."
* AAP travelled to the Mundi Mundi Bash with the assistance of event organisers.
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