Jekylls of Hyde St enjoy party

Dressed to impress, students attend the annual Hyde street party in Dunedin. Photo / Otago Daily Times

Tarzans, Janes, Speedo cops, SpongeBob SquarePants, elves, balloons and superheroes - what do all have in common?

A desire to drink, dance and attend Dunedin's biggest student street party of the year.

The 2016 Hyde St party was low-key affair marked less by its saturation of scandal and more by its population of "good people and good times", as reveller James Gibson puts it.

Students attend the annual Hyde street party in Dunedin. Photo / Supplied

The event was a must-attend for students. Thousands were left disappointed when tickets sold out in seconds, he said. "Lots of my friends didn't even get tickets."

But that wasn't going to stop him from enjoying a day in the sun with the about 3600 others who thronged into the tiny street.

"It's a rite of passage for students. That's why they shouldn't take it away. It's all good."

After failing to secure a coveted ticket, Patrick Jeferson stowed away in a friend's flat in the street overnight and coloured in a loop of masking tape to appear like the wristbands given out to ticket holders.

"I haven't slept," he said about 9.30am.

"I have been drinking since mid-afternoon yesterday. I probably won't crash until this afternoon."

Students attend the annual Hyde street party in Dunedin. Photo / Otago Daily Times

As he was warming into his work, so, too, were the Punishers.

The two flatmates would not provide their names, but were getting in some last minute press- ups in the privacy of their flat.

"We are superheroes, so we gotta look tanked," one of them explained.