Boxing Day sales expected to top $2.36b

Australian shoppers are expected to spend $2.36 billion on the Boxing Day sales on Tuesday.

Australians are expected to hit the shops in droves on Boxing Day, with the country's peak retail body predicting a record spend of $2.36 billion.

While many people make a last-minute dash for presents and food on Christmas Eve on Sunday, thousands are expected to return less than 48 hours later for the start of the sales on Tuesday.

National Retail Association chief executive Dominique Lamb said shoppers were expected to spend $2.36 billion on Boxing Day, up three per cent on the 2016 figure of $2.28 billion.

"This is a much-needed revenue for retailers," she said in Brisbane on Sunday.

"We know that they spend the whole year planning this sale, it's absolutely the pinnacle of their retail calendar and they're very excited to greet their customers early on Tuesday morning."

Shoppers in NSW and Victoria are expected to spend $771m and $740m respectively on December 26, well above third-placed Queensland with its estimated $397m.

Ms Lamb said retailers in each of the states and territories could expect a boost in Boxing Day sales.

"This is definitely a record-breaking Boxing Day, we certainly haven't seen these figures for some time," she said.

"It's not as high as pre-GFC, but this is a much-needed increase for retailers and certainly this is an increase on last year's figures."

Ms Lamb said Australian shoppers had spent more than $48 billion in the lead-up to Christmas, with $20.3 billion of that spent in the past fortnight.

"Given that Christmas is on a Monday this year we know that people have left Christmas shopping as long as they possibly can ... but what we've seen in the last 12 days is a huge surge towards the shops.