“We know that on Boxing Day manchester, towels and apparel are also very popular.”

David Jones regional manager Rowena Derksen said they expected about 1 million shoppers through their stores nationally on Boxing Day.

“We expect 185,000 through our Queensland stores alone,” she said.

Business shirts and ladies shoes are two of the big targets for shoppers.

“We expect to sell over a million business shirts (nationally) for example and we also expect to sell over 150,000 lego sets and over 75,000 small appliances,” she said.

In the Queen Street Mall, shoppers were beginning to swell through shops on Christmas Eve, while the usual big crowds had arrived at suburban shopping centres.

Ms Lamb said retailers were already reporting an increase in online shopping.

“It is actually up by 35 per cent. So this year Australians (overall) are set to spend (online) just over just over $3 billion,” Ms Lamb said.

That was about 8.5 per cent of the annual Christmas and New Year sales, she said.

“That is made up of pure online sales – where stores only have online sales - as well as those bricks and mortar stores that have an a channel of online sales as well,” Ms Lamb said.

Ms Lamb said retailers in 2018 were befitting from low interest rates and the “time of the season” shopping.

“It is definitely the time of the year when we entertain more and people are off from work and they are really out and about,” she said.

Ms Lamb said groceries including fresh meats, dairy foods, pavlovas and seafood, as well as jewellery was being sold heavily on Christmas Eve.

“Really it has been one of the biggest weekends we have seen just before Christmas,” she said.

Nationally, Ms Lamb said, shoppers were predicted to spend $2.49 billion at Boxing Day sales.

The National Retailers Association has broken that estimated sales figure down state by state, based on a general percentage sales increase state by state.

New South Wales is on track for the biggest spend with $821 million, followed by Victoria at $785 million. Queensland was expected to top the $400 million mark for the first time.

Ms Lamb said the figures are based on university research of estimated consumer spending patterns, retail “foot traffic” and anecdotal research.

“Boxing Day is really about getting your family together and getting in those lines and trying to bag a bargain,” she said.

“It’s quite fun, there’s a great atmosphere and really the retail staff make it a great place to be.”