The chances of Saturday night's second AFL preliminary final between Geelong and Collingwood being shown live on television into Melbourne increased dramatically on Wednesday after thousands of tickets were snapped up by the general public.

Channel Ten is desperate to show the game live into Melbourne - instead of on the usual 30 minute delay - but will not be allowed by the AFL unless the match is a sell-out.

But as of Wednesday night just 6,800 tickets were left remaining for the match after the general public snapped up more than 15,000 tickets on Wednesday.

More than 20,000 tickets had already been sold to Geelong and Collingwood members on Monday and Tuesday.

The Cats and the Magpies have a history of drawing huge crowds to their finals matches and just two years ago an incredible 98,000 fans watched their preliminary final clash at the MCG, which the Cats won by five points.

That game actually drew a slightly larger attendance than the following week's grand final showdown between Geelong and Port Adelaide, which was the first time a preliminary final had drawn a larger attendance than the grand final since 1962.

Channel Ten's head of football David Barham told Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper earlier this week that his network was desperate to show the game live given the public's preference for live matches over delayed telecasts these days with the match guaranteed to be a ratings bonanza for the network.

"We said we would like to go live and they (the AFL) said they'd get back to us," Barham said.

"All we can do is ask but we're desperately keen to go live. It's up to them really."

However should the remaining 6,800 tickets be snapped up over the next two days - as seems likely - there would be no impediment to Ten showing the match live.

But the chances of the other preliminary final between St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs on Friday night being shown live are remote.

Not only has Friday night broadcaster Channel Seven being reluctant to change its normal programming to show games live - unlike Channel Ten - but there are still nearly 13,000 tickets remaining for that match, which is now unlikely to be sold out.

But while Seven normally shows Friday night matches on a one hour delay, it has amended its schedule slightly during the finals by scheduling its regular lead-in program Better Homes and Gardens half an hour earlier to allow any Friday night finals to be shown on a 30 minute delay rather than the usual one hour delay.

All ticket sales do not include the AFL and MCC members areas, which account for virtually half of the MCG's 100,000 capacity, but only all public tickets need to be sold before the league will allow a game to be shown live into Melbourne although the final attendance figure will depend on how many AFL and MCC members show up.