Behind the scenes at the Party Central build-up (PHOTOS)

UPDATE 4.30pm: The area of Quay St blocked off for people to follow the game on giant screens is now almost full.

Party Central opened at 3pm, but the queue is just not moving. The cordoned-off Cloud/Party Central inner area of Queens Wharf hit capacity at 3.20pm, according to a Radio New Zealand report.

I'm now attempting to leave the inner city. Have great night, people.

(The above photo was uploaded on my XT Turbo Stick, by the way, which so far is holding up fine. Another NBR staffer, on Vodafone, has been having problems and was told by a call centre support rep that there are widespread network problems in the Auckland CBD. Vodafone's website is not lisitng any network issues at this point. NBR has asked for comment.

At 4.18pm, a Vodafone spokesman offered, "The network is performing as it should. There are a lot of people entering the CBD and the business day is not yet done, so people may experience some delays.

Your correspondent hasn't experienced any issues on his iPhone, running on Vodafone.)

UPDATE: 2.30pm: The queue for Party Central is now around 1km long, and much thicker. If you're familiar with the Auckland waterfront, it now snakes from the Ferry Building to the Countdown/Vector Arena area.

Video above: walking the length of the queue.

A random Britomart bar. At 2.30pm, all establishments in the area are spilling over.

A small slice of the 1km+ queue.

Some scenes from downtown Auckland, where around 50,000 are expected to gather for the cup. Party Central itself will only hold around 12,000 (gates open 3pm), but others willl be able to gather around Quay St (already closed to traffic) where two giant screens are being erected.

As of 1pm, the Party Central queue stretched for around 500m, but with more people joining all the time. It's sunny, and 17 degrees.
 

This morning NBR was able to grab a sneak-peek at the Heineken World Bar - which will presumably get more crowded later in the day. The floor is concrete, for easy hose-down.
 

What goes in ...
 

One of the two giant screens on Quay St.
 

A keg-carrying golf cart, snapped from NBR's window, almost takes out BNZ mar-comms supremo Erica Lloyd.
 

A haka breaks out in lower Queen St (also shut to traffic).

The public screen on the western side of Quay St.

Cable car.
 

Behave.

The giant rugby ball. 100% pure inflatable.