Festival spokesperson David Jarwood said there was some doubt over the weekend as to whether the festival could still be held.

He said damage to the access road meant the delivery of festival infrastructure had to be delayed.

"Over the weekend, we were asking people for no deliveries to be made on site and for early volunteers not to turn up," Mr Jarwood said. "At the moment it's a race against time so we just need to make sure everything is ready because we've lost up to a week at exactly the wrong time.

"Beaufort has been such a fantastic supporter of the festival, and while our festival might be delayed, it is nowhere near what the township of Beaufort has gone through in the past week."

Hundreds of volunteers will be working this week to ensure everything is set up for Friday.

The access road is still under repair but organisers remain confident that a few days of sunny weather will stabilise the ground.

The festival website stated that "while we are very hopeful that Rainbow can commence on Friday as timetabled we need every minute of every remaining day to ensure safety on site and to catch up with construction as much as possible".

Close to 13,000 punters are expected to attend this weekend's event which will run in Beaufort from Friday to Monday. Gates will now open at 8am on Friday with no public access prior to this.

There will also be a donation point set up at the information tent to raise funds for flood-affected communities around the country.

For more information, visit www.rainbowserpent.net