The official attendance of 85,936 for last Saturday's round 17 blockbuster at the MCG was the fourth-biggest crowd ever for a Collingwood-Carlton home-and-away game.
About 7500 reserved-seat ticket holders didn't show, including club members with reserved seats, which contributed to the crowd figure falling short of the Magpies-Blues regular-season record of 88,181, set in round three this year.
Despite the vacant reserved seats for the game which was televised live into Melbourne on Network Ten, Saturday's crowd is the third-biggest of the 2011 AFL season so far, with the annual ANZAC Day clash (89,626) on top of the list.
It was the sixth time in the 222 home-and-away-game history between the clubs that they have attracted a crowd over 85,000.
Collingwood has been involved in the four biggest crowds of this AFL season.
The club has now drawn in excess of 80,000 five times this year, something it also achieved during the 2010 regular season, which was the first time a club had ever done so.
With big MCG matches against Essendon (round 19) and Geelong (round 24) to come, the Magpies are on track to become the first team ever to attract six or more crowds of 80,000 plus during a single home-and-away season.
So far this year 939,648 have attended the Magpies' 15 games, at an average of 62,643. The all-time home-and-away attendance record was set by the Magpies last year (1,306,461 at an average of 59,372).
The club has attracted 786,395 to its 11 MCG matches in 2011, at an average of 71,490.
Top five Collingwood-Carlton home-and-away crowds
88,181 - Round 3, 2011 @ MCG (12th biggest H&A crowd in VFL/AFL history)
87,119 - Round 1, 1995 @ MCG
86,196 - Round 6, 1993 @ MCG
85,936 - Round 17, 2011 @ MCG
85,831 - Round 17, 1994 @ MCG
Top five AFL crowds in 2011
89,626 - Round 5 Essendon v Collingwood @ MCG (ANZAC Day)
88,181 - Round 3 Collingwood v Carlton @ MCG
85,936 - Round 17 Carlton v Collingwood @ MCG
83,985 - Round 15 Collingwood v Hawthorn @ MCG
83,563 - Round 9 Richmond v Essendon @ MCG
