HUNDREDS received a taste of Sweden at IKEA this morning, with sourdough, meatballs, ABBA and rain.

Eager shoppers began lining up at 4am for the 10am opening, braving the wind and rain in ponchos.



Swedish maids handed out treats to an ABBA soundtrack with crowds clamouring to enter the biggest IKEA in the Southern Hemisphere.



There were no signs of the traffic chaos the Government warned of, with the roads largely clear - despite the 1700 space car park filling up quickly.

In pictures: Take a look around the Southern Hemisphere's newest and biggest Ikea.



Many of the crowd were locals who had been waiting the opening for years.



Glenorie Bakery owner Rob Pirina handed out more than 500 slices of European sourdough with spreads to the hungry crowd.



"It's a shame about the weather but the atmosphere is still great," he said.

The crowds were expected to be so huge, free shuttle buses will run every 15 minutes from Sydenham Station for the next three weeks.

Sitting under a flight path and on top of an old dump, the site was deemed one of the world's most difficult to build on - with much of the building of the past 2½ months done late at night when aircraft would not risk crashing into cranes.

Wind turbines in the carpark ventilate gas from a methane trench in the old landfill while special in-store ventilation spare shoppers the airport's fuel smell.

"There are not many sites that are on an old tip where you cannot go too deep. And we obviously can not go much higher," Leffler Simes Architects managing director Chris Goodman said.

"A lot of the work had to be done at night for that reason."

He used an acoustic "blanket" in the roof and inch-thick windows to block the plane noise - and enable hungry shoppers in the cafeteria to watch planes zoom in against the city backdrop.

"You do not want shoppers in here getting shaken, rattled and rolled," he said.

It's Sydney's second concept store but may be joined by another two as Australia becomes the next big target market for the allen key-laden franchise, as IKEA deems us a "DIY nation".

They expect 2.2 million people in its first year of business and up to 20,000 people per Saturday.

Shoppers will walk a winding 2.5km path in the store before they find their way back to check-outs, $1 hot dogs and 50c ice creams.

Store manager Josja Van Der Maas visited Sydney homes to research what we need most, revealing Sydneysiders were most frustrated with their over-spilling pantries, wardrobes and sheds.

"Everyone had the problem of not enough storage space," Ms Van Der Maas said.

"DIY is very much in the blood of Aussies. They love their homes, they are proud of their homes."

Motorists were warned to expect long delays around Tempe for the next four days, and each weekend for at least the next month.

"Motorists are advised to avoid the area if they are not going to IKEA," a Transport Management Centre spokesperson said.