Splendour in the Grass: Australia’s largest music festival hit by wild weather forcing day one cancellation

Downpours, flooding, mud and washed-out tents have meant the first day of one of Australia’s largest music festivals has been cancelled.

Performances on the main stages at Splendour in the Grass in Byron Bay, New South Wales were cancelled as organisers decided to “err on the side of caution”.

They said the decision to cancel performances on Friday was made with advice from emergency services, and in the interest of ticket holders.

Gorillaz were scheduled to headline the festival’s first day, and Kacey Musgraves, Jungle and Yungblud were among other artists scheduled to entertain punters on Friday.

Gorillaz took to Twitter to voice “beyond disappointment”, and said they were “devastated”.

Kacey Musgraves said it was “a gigantic bummer” and the weather had been “utterly insane”.

“A significant weather system is currently sitting off the east coast and may reach land later today bringing more rainfall,” organisers said.

Images emerging from the festival site show punters in raincoats and wellies, splashing around in ankle deep mud and with tents surrounded by flooding.

Some took to social media to vent their frustrations over the cancellation and handling of the first day - with some claiming it took them 12 hours to enter the site.

The festival village and comedy tents remain open to people who have already arrived, but day ticket holders were urged to stay home while staff worked to repair the site at North Byron Parklands.

Organisers hope that Saturday and Sunday programming will go ahead as planned.

Artists scheduled to perform over the weekend include The Strokes, Glass Animals and Tyler, The Creator.