Organiser Peter Williams said discussions had occurred in the days leading up to the announcement of Victoria's snap lockdown.

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"It really was a difficult and heartbreaking decision to have to make," he said.

"We have spent the last three days working through and evolving the situation of changes to restrictions.

"Yesterday afternoon, when lockdown was confirmed, it became obvious that we were not going to be in a position to run.

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"Even though lockdown finishes next Tuesday, in theory, the venues need a lot more time that that to prepare and so do our artists."

With NSW COVID-19 numbers increasing, Mr Williams said the festival had already been losing artists for days.

"We already had to tell our NSW acts they wouldn't be able to attend because they were coming from orange and red zones," he said.

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"But for us to tell every single artist, who are all struggling themselves, we weren't able to go ahead at all was devastating.

Mr Williams said the artists and organisers were still able to support each other through the tough time.

"It was a really hard day on Thursday, but I had artists calling and messaging myself and other organisers to see if we were okay," he said.

"I know it sounds cheesy, but we are a big family and we will support each other from now until we do get the event back on its feet."

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After suffering a loss of almost $30,000 from cancelling the event last year, Mr Williams said the financial loss this year would be significantly more.

"I can't really put a number on it, but it's not going to be any better than last year," he said.

"When you factor in the losses for the artists and the venues and the fact we're all volunteers organising this event, it's a big loss.

"But that's not going to stop us trying again."

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He said while the event could be moved to another time of the year, it wasn't a plausible option.

"Look we could move it to two weeks from now, but what if we go into another lockdown and have to go through this all over again?" Mr Williams said.

"We've made the decision to come back bigger and better next year."

Mr Williams said ticketholders would be contacted by Moshtix in the coming days to organise refunds.

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