Held twice a year at the Bathurst Showground, the event offers up thousands of book titles at low prices all in the name of raising funds and awareness for the charity.

There were 24,000 books up for grabs and during the two-day event, hundreds of people flocked in to buy a new read or make a donation.

Lifeline Central West executive officer Alex Ferguson said the weekend’s fair looks to be the most successful in the event’s nine-year history.

“Saturday was the best day ever with the numbers of people here – I would think at one stage we probably had 250 people in there [the Bathurst Showground pavilion],” he said.

“[It] was so strong it broke all previous records with in excess of $27,000 raised.”

Entry to the fair was a gold coin donation, but Mr Ferguson said many people chose to donate a note rather than a coin.

“It’s terribly gratifying because Lifeline’s work in the Central West is dealing with subjects that are not nice at all,” he said.

Mr Ferguson praised the community for its support of the fair and said all funds raised will stay in the local region and go to help with training additional telephone crisis supporters as well as support Lifeline’s ongoing training in the community with health care providers.

“I think people are starting to recognise that mental health issues, domestic violence issues and violence are not random issues, they’re very common,” he said.