Organisers have labelled day one of Brisbane's Ashes Test match a success despite hoards of fans voicing their anger at tough new security measures.

Many angry patrons missed the first ball of the long awaited series while waiting at a cloakroom to drop off their backpacks, which were banned from the venue.

But Queensland Cricket chief executive Graham Dixon said the hold up had been caused by a rush of fans who had arrived at the ground too late.

He said staff had done well to clear all gates by 10.10 (AEST), despite only half of all patrons having entered the ground at 9.30 (AEST).

"Everybody came here at 9.30 and tried to get in. It doesn't happen that easily," Mr Dixon said after play finished.

"At 9.30 only half the crowd was in the stadium, therein lies the challenge."

He again rammed home the message for fans to arrive early with gates opening at 8.30 (AEST).

But, Brisbane fan Jason Davie blamed the backpack ban for putting a downer on the day.

"We've missed what we came here for, the first ball, the atmosphere, we've missed it all," he said.

Mr Davie had packed soft drinks and food to avoid stadium prices but ended up transferring the items to plastic bags as he waited 45-minutes in the cloak room queue.

Meanwhile, Inspector Les Hopkins said police had been very happy with crowd behaviour which had been a huge turnaround from behaviour which marred several games at the Gabba during last year's cricket season.

Forty people were ejected from the grounds for bad behaviour, two were arrested and one person was arrested for drug offences.

"It was an outstanding day," Insp Hopkins said.

"The crowd was very well behaved - by far in the majority."

One of the 40 ejected was the Barmy Army's trumpeter who was thrown out after sneaking in his trumpet, a banned item under the stadium's rules.

But Mr Dixon defended the rules against cries the ejection was not in the spirit of the game and questioned why the man was above the same rules everyone else had to abide by.

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