GWS are set to play in front of their largest home crowd of the season when they host the Western Bulldogs at Giants Stadium, but their elimination final is unlikely to attract as many fans as their epic 2016 preliminary final stoush.

Across eight home games this season, the club’s eighth at the forefront of the AFL’s push into rugby league heartland, GWS have attracted an average crowd of 12,411.

The AFL are expecting about 19,000 people to watch the game live on Saturday, which would eclipse this year’s previous largest crowd of 16,116 that turned out for the round-20 clash against cross-town rivals Sydney.

Late on Friday afternoon there were about 4000 tickets available to the public remaining, down from the 8000 unsold at the close of business on Monday.

In 2016, a crowd of 21,790 turned out at the boutique 24,000-seat stadium situated in the Sydney Showgrounds precinct for the preliminary final, a thriller won by the Bulldogs by six points.

That number, second only to the venue record of 21,924 set when the Swans visited in round 17 of the 2017 season, likely won’t come under threat this weekend.

The AFL hierarchy aren’t fazed by the apparent drop-off, a spokesman arguing a comparison with 2016, when a grand final berth was up for grabs, isn’t comparing apples with apples.

What will be watched closely is the make-up of the crowd.

Despite the stadium being the Giants’ home turf, estimates put the crowd in 2016 at about 60 per cent Dogs fans to 40 per cent GWS supporters.

About 4,000 Bulldogs members have bought tickets for Saturday’s clash, with 150 fans jumping on three especially commissioned buses, and the GWS uptake suggests the split of supporters should tip in favour of the home side.

The only other final to be played at the ground, a semi-final against West Coast in 2017, attracted a crowd of 14,865.