The Moonee Valley Racing Club will use every square inch possible to get as many people as it can on track for this year's 100th Cox Plate.
It comes as chief executive Michael Browell outlined the club's plans for the Group 1 to maintain the same prizemoney levels as last year - a staggering $5 million.
Racing Victoria is this week expected to announce its decision on whether the Spring Carnival will be run for the same prizemoney as 2019, after lowering stakes earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The MVRC tabled its plan to RV last week, with the club happy to keep its usual top-up of prizemoney to maintain the Cox Plate at $5m.
Mass-gathering restrictions in Victoria are one significant hurdle the club will have to overcome in the coming months, with the next few weeks significant in how many people will be allowed on course come the spring.
A recent resurgence in COVID-19 numbers in Victoria has seen Browell's hopes for a massive Cox Plate crowd take a significant hit.
Browell estimated the club could get 6000 to 10,000 people on course depending on restrictions.
"At the moment in Victoria, the restrictions are one person per four square metres in an enclosed space. We've got 21 useable rooms across the course," Browell said.
"When you go through and work out the square meterage that we have got, and then also to the front lawn … we come up with a number substantially lower than the 10,000 cap which was announced by (Prime Minister Scott) Morrison, which hasn't been adopted yet in Victoria.
"We are just presuming that come October that that's what it will be. We are also running the model if that was to be decreased from one person per four square metres to one person per two square metres.
"There's a little bit to play out in all of this and I would have thought with what's happened in Victoria in the last 10 days, there might be a little bit of a delay before we start to move down that path.
"We need to work out how much of the infield we can open up and what that model might look like. If we were to open up the infield, we would be hopeful we could get somewhere towards that 10,000 number.
"If it was only grandstand side of the track it would be half that, maybe 6000."
Browell said the club had some time up its sleeve before it had to go to market with Cox Plate packages but admitted there would be a 'massive financial hit' regardless of what the COVID-19 restrictions were.
"I think we are now keen to get as many people on course as we can to share in what should be a memorable day for the club," Browell said.
Browell said the club's submission to RV outlined its ambition to run the Cox Plate for $5m.
"We put a good case forward. The club is obviously making a significant contribution towards that and that's through club funds and through our partner Ladbrokes," he said.
"We've told RV we are willing to commit to the top up we've had previously, so we just need RV to commit with their level of prizemoney."