The opening two days of Warrnambool's May Racing Carnival survived bleak weather before much better conditions prevailed for Thursday's final day.

Unlike last year's Melbourne spring carnival, Warrnambool's three-day event is as popular as ever.

Jumps racing, which was on life support in 2012 when The Standard launched a campaign to save it and our carnival, is now safer and in a better place.

Victoria's Racing Minister Anthony Carbines, who attended his first carnival since taking on the portfolio after November's state election, was unequivocal in his support.

"Really it has no peer in terms of a jumps racing carnival in the country, and that's not something anyone's walking away from," he told The Standard.

The government was "absolutely" throwing its support behind the carnival and jumps racing, he said.

"Being here is important to demonstrate that," he said.

"People need to know it has the government's support, it has the parliament's support. That's why we're here.

"It's got a massive history and it's got a big future.

"The government has very strong support not only for the carnival but Jumps Racing Victoria and the work of Racing Victoria."

Total attendances were more than 29,000 despite the challenging conditions. The good natured crowd seemingly had a great time, eating, drinking and betting.

The carnival is our biggest party of the year and south-west hospitality and accommodation operators received a big boost.

Last year the carnival injected $14.7 million into Warrnambool's economy.

Of that total weekly spend, $1.3 million was spent in retail with a further $3.68 million spent on dining and entertainment.

As one trader told us last week, it's a welcome injection before winter sets in.

But the Reserve Bank of Australia's shock decision on Tuesday to lift interest rates a further 25 basis points could mean it was the last party for a while.

In a pre-budget move, the official cash rate jumped to 3.85 per cent - its highest point in 11 years - adding almost $100 to monthly repayments on an average mortgage.

It will be interesting to see whether the economic conditions impacted gambling during the carnival.

If it didn't, there's going to be considerable belt-tightening coming.

RBA governor Philip Lowe said inflation was "still too high" and the bank's central case was that it would take two years to get back to the top of the target range.

"Given the importance of returning inflation to target within a reasonable timeframe, the board judged that a further increase in interest rates was warranted," he said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the rate rise was a "pretty brutal reminder" of the difficult economic environment.

He promised this week's federal budget would include a package of measures aimed at relieving cost of living pressures on households. But the budget would be responsible.

Sobering indeed.