On Sunday morning, Melbourne band Krakatau stepped on stage at the Meredith Music Festival to play their biggest gig.
The crowd sitting on the Supernatural Amphitheatre was sparse, and perhaps a little uninterested about the band's big moment - it was certainly not the 12,000-odd-people crush that had greeted more-celebrated overseas acts during the festival's previous two days, and which included hip-hop legends De La Soul and indie band-of-the-moment The War on Drugs.
Sunday is Meredith's awkward half-day, with the regrets of two nights of partying apparent in the crowd shuffling towards coffee stands and food tents.
And by mid-morning, many festivalgoers were already packing up camp sites to leave, even with sets from recognised bands, such as The Lemonheads, still to come (to say nothing of the nude race - the Meredith gift - that caps off the festival each year).
Even so, Krakatau's drummer, Dylan Lieberman, was not complaining about playing the day after the party. And 10am on Sunday, with only a tai chi class preceding them, was perhaps an appropriate time for Krakatau's intricate prog-rock instrumentals.
'The time lends itself to us, and people will come with fresh ears,' Lieberman says before the set.
Keyboardist James Tom also reflected that 95 per cent of the band's gigs were at night, and he can find it an off-putting experience to play in the day with the faces in the crowd so evident.
Last weekend's festival was Meredith's 24th iteration. From modest beginnings of essentially a few local bands playing in a field, it now sells out in minutes, has spawned the sister festival Golden Plains, and regularly puts together a line-up of high-end foreign and local talent.
Also among the bands on the bill this year this was Australian indie mainstay Augie March, prominent Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah, and original ska legends the Skatalites.
This was Krakatau's first time at Meredith, either performing or as punters. Lieberman said he particularly liked the ferris wheel - know as the Meredith Eye.
By halfway through their playing time, a small smattering of devoted listeners had gathered at the front of the stage to hear Krakatau's set of new jazz-infused material, eschewing songs from their album Water Near A Bridge.
After their time on stage, Tom tells Fairfax Media they were really grateful for the invitation to play. Musically, they had got 'about 75 per cent of the way there', he said, and had even had a few good 'encore' calls.
But the overall feeling had been 'a bit underwhelming', Tom said.
'But understandable', he adds with a laugh, 'given what people have probably been doing to their bodies for two days.'
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