Cricket: World Cup crowd numbers through the roof

Fans pack out Eden Park for the Cricket World Cup semifinal between New Zealand and South Africa. Photo / Nick Reed

More than 1 million people packed into stadiums across New Zealand and Australia, making this year's Cricket World Cup the most popular in the history of the tournament, the International Cricket Council says.

A total of 1,016,421 people flocked to 49 matches over 44 days across the two host nations, and an estimated 1 billion people watched across the globe.

More than 93,000 fans crammed into Melbourne's MCG stadium last night, setting a new record in Australia for one day international match attendance - surpassing the 87,182 fans who flocked to the last world cup final at the MCG in 1992.

It also set a new record for a single day's cricket in Australia, beating the previous best of 91,112 set at the MCG during the Ashes series in 2013.

The combined figures - topped with "unprecedented social media activity" - made the tournament the most popular in the Cricket World Cup's 40 year history, ICC local organising committee chief executive John Harnden said.

"When the local organising committee was set up in 2012 our vision was to inspire passion and participation in a celebration of the game, and the fans have responded beyond our expectations," Mr Harnden said.

"Overall, we have sold out 20 of the 49 matches in this World Cup. Perhaps most satisfying of all, eight of those sold out matches did not involve Australia or New Zealand.

"This has been a real bonus for tourism ... but it also shows just how diverse our two countries have become with large numbers of local cricket fans from different backgrounds supporting different teams."

He said: "Cricket has again demonstrated its popularity and its ability to unite people at a local, national and international level."