Both clubs will be releasing ballot results from 9am on Monday. Ticket allocations will then be made for club members who have registered their interest from September 11.

A Sydney Swans spokesman said 15,000 tickets would be sold to club members, most of whom live in Sydney and are expected to invade the southern state in a convoy of buses. Virgin and Qantas are also expected to put on extra flights.

He said since the ballot began last week, "all tickets were snapped up on the first day available". About a third of Swans members have paid for priority memberships, which guarantee a ticket to Saturday's game.

A Hawthorn spokeswoman said that 15,000 tickets would also be available to Hawks members through the same ballot process.

Members of other AFL clubs will have to take their chances. While each club is allocated tickets to the grand final, many will be packaged up and sold to tens of thousands of corporate guests.

Hawthorn fans are sweating on the fitness of pacy talisman Cyril Rioli, who began his long-awaited comeback from a three-month hamstring injury on Sunday, emerging unscathed from Box Hill's loss in the VFL grand final.

For supporters Amanda Diblasi, 32, her mother Valerie Chapman, 63, and husband James Jacka, 34, Rioli's comeback could be the difference between a win or loss for the Hawks.

"We're really going to have to bring our best game to beat the Swans," Mr Jack said.

Ms Chapman said Hawthorn's biggest obstacle would be Hawk-turned-Swans superstar Lance Franklin.

"The Swans' forward line is strong, so that's going to be hard to get through," she said.

"But if Cyril is playing, the other guys can do really well. Five minutes of Cyril is enough to turn the game around."

While Ms Chapman, a member for 35 years, has secured a coveted ticket, Mr Jack and Ms Diblasi said they were depending on the goodwill of a friend to organise tickets for them.

"We just have to be really nice to him," Ms Diblasi laughed.

Yet others, like brother and sister duo Christian and Brigitte Seely, will be frantically scouring Facebook and Gumtree for tickets before the big day.

"We're going to try and get tickets, but I don't know how we're going to go about it – maybe put up some Facebook statuses," Mr Seely said.

"We're not members, but we should be – I go to every game."

Despite their optimism, Mr Seely said last year's efforts to get grand final tickets resulted in him losing $350.

"I tried Gumtree and got ripped off when my ticket never arrived – I never saw the ticket or money again," he said.