Concerted last-minute lobbying by Adelaide chief executive Steve Trigg won Adelaide the showpiece Friday night AFL final time slot for this week's elimination match against Essendon.

Now the Crows and their supporters are under pressure to produce the sort of finals crowd the club has always argued it could draw if given the match day and time of their choice.

Adelaide's home finals crowds have seldom been of the size usually associated with one of the league's largest membership and fan bases, with last year's play-off against Collingwood drawing only 37,685 to AAMI Stadium which can accommodate 51,515.

"I'm a bit tired of being questioned by the AFL about our ability to get this ground full for big games like this," Trigg said on Monday.

"With previous crowds the last two or three attempts (all on Saturdays) in the mid-30,000s it is hard to defend.

"I'm interested in making sure that with the support AFL has in this city we think it's not unreasonable to get up into the high 40s and hopefully a full house, and that's our target.

"I'd really like to send a message to the AFL that says `stop questioning us, we can fill this stadium if you give us the right time slot'.

"We've got most things going for us for a good crowd."

Trigg was engaged in brisk discussion with league officials virtually from the moment the Crows wrapped up fifth spot with a 72-point defeat of Carlton at Etihad Stadium, and succeeded in shifting the league's preference from a likely Saturday fixture to Friday night.

"I looked back over our recent finals fixtures here and the last three we've played here at AAMI Stadium have been Saturday afternoon games, so I spent a fair bit of time discussing that after our game on Saturday night with the AFL," Trigg said.

"I was very keen for us to stay away from the Saturday afternoon time slot.

"We know full well at this time of the year country members have the latter part of their sporting season and it's difficult for them to get here on Saturday afternoons.

"The push came that we've had three Saturday afternoon goes at it, at this time of year, you've been critical of us for not filling the stadium, why don't we try this on, what about some thought for Friday night or Saturday night.

"It (Saturday afternoon) was probably a bit of what I was hearing because it was likely to be the case given the gaps that are needed for teams - it looked logical that we should play on the Saturday afternoon - but it didn't matter whether we played on a six day break or a seven or an eight."

By mid-Monday 19,000 tickets had sold for the match.

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