An appreciation for cheese and massive smiles on their faces when they presumably broke a Guinness World Record, doing what they love.

Yes, there really is a cheese-tasting world record. It stood at 560 people, and was set about a year ago.

Now, it has been unofficially bumped up to 1000, thanks to local cheesemakers, the show society, and punters willing to line up and wait for an hour to taste three bits of cheese and enter the history books.

Three dairies donated more than 36kg of cheese – Bodalla supplied ‘Drover’s Delight’, ‘Gum Leaf Smoked’ and ‘Old Man Salt Bush’ while Nowra’s Unicorn provided a double cream brie and Bega offered a vintage cheddar.

More than 50 local volunteers sliced and boxed cheese for eight hours and acted as marshals and counters, passing out the tasting boxes and collecting the opened boxes after the event.

Demand for a free box of cheese was so strong that 1500 people lined up and organisers ran out of cheese.

“The Valley Cheesemakers were delighted, beyond delighted at the turnout,” spokeswoman Tiffany Egan said.

“They had aimed for 700 people, boxed samples for 1000 just in case, and turned away 500 extra people.”

At about 4.30pm the countdown took place. Each person who had been mustered onto the valley showground was well and truly ready to rip in. The atmosphere was euphoric - a thousand sober people smiled in anticipation and counted down like it was New Year’s Eve.

“Three, two, one.” The showground erupted in cheers while tasters opened boxes.

The Valley Cheesemakers have lodged official documentation with Guinness World Records, including drone footage, photographs and witness statements.

On site officials include HMAS Creswell Commanding Officer Warren Bairstow, Kangaroo Valley Anglican Church Rector Andrew Paterson and Kangaroo Valley school principal Andrew Smee. While they’re confident they’ve have snagged the title from a dairy company in WA, it may be a matter of months before they have formal confirmation from Guinness.