With the opening weekend featuring a series of author talks, programmer Maryanne Vagg said there was a fantastic atmosphere in town and a number of sessions were sold out.

"I think not being able to have the street festival, that was an element people did miss a bit, but the fact we had quite a number of traders able to be there and the local Clunes traders, the cafes, the pub, were all really busy was great to see," she said.

Ms Vagg estimated crowds to be in the hundreds.

"It was one of those weekends where what we predicted would happen happened where a lot of people left it quite late to book. We were still selling tickets for the last session right until doors closed," she said.

"We reconfigured a couple of the venues so that we could fit a few more seats in within the COVID guidelines but we were able to make a bit more space which was great.

"It was really great to see people returning and supporting the event because it wasn't exactly the same but it was wonderful people still came out and gave it a go."

Clunes Booktown returns at the end of the month with an Australian first, an entire weekend dedicated to book clubs over May 29 and 30.

READ MORE: Book lovers travel to Clunes as a scaled-back Booktown festival returns

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