The stands were packed by three-fifteen.
They were not just full but exceeded official capacity, with students standing along the upper walkways and sitting on the retaining walls at the venue's edge.
This overflow crowd had come after two days of bracket development, eager to see how the competition would unfold.
The home academy section was the loudest. The Brightwater section was energised because their fighter reached the final.
Meanwhile, the Ironveil and Greystone sections had become more neutral, watching the competition rather than supporting their own, as their finalists had been eliminated earlier in the day.
The council observers were in their assigned area. William noticed all three when he arrived at the arena floor staging area at 3:45. They were supposed to leave later that evening, but they were still there.
He filed that and moved on.
The staging area was a covered space next to the arena floor, divided from the crowd by a practical partition.
