Hundreds of Australia's fastest, toughest and most fearless skaters have rolled into Canberra for one of the country's biggest roller derby tournaments.

The Quad Save the Queen tournament features a dozen teams from around Australia, as well as a visiting team from New Zealand.

It comes just six months after the Australian team took bronze in the World Cup in Texas, beating red hot favourites Canada.

Thea van Veen, also known as 'Behemoth Rhapsody', one of the organisers and competitors in the tournament, said skaters who featured at the World Cup had travelled to Canberra for the event.

"We've got some really good skaters here, we've got some representatives from Team Australia and Team New Zealand," she said.

Fellow skater and organiser Deborah Hill, also known as 'Bambi von Smash'er', said it was the third time the tournament had been hosted in Canberra on the Queen's Birthday long weekend.

"What we have set up here in terms of our tournament structure, is just teams getting the best bang for their buck," she said.

"To travel, play as many games as possible, to get as many opportunities to skate as possible."

Van Veen said the local league had continued to grow over the last few years, with new players strapping on their skates for the time.

"We've got two leagues in Canberra now, both competing here, and our league is constantly growing," she said.

'Not as crazy as you might think'

Despite its reputations for big hits and frequent falls, Van Veen said she did not consider roller derby to be a dangerous sport.

The tournament is being held across four roller derby rinks at the Tuggeranong basketball stadium in Canberra's south. ( ABC News: Gregory Nelson )

"It is full contact, but there are a lot of rules, and a lot of safety requirements and there are a lot of minimum skills you have to pass to be able to skate," she said.

"So it's not as crazy as you might think."

Hill said she had avoided any serious injuries after seven years of skating in roller derbies.

"It is a full-contact sport, I don't think there's any more or less injuries than what you'd see in a men's full-contact sport, like AFL," she said.

Van Veen said in contrast, the sport had a positive effect on the women who played it.

"It's just a really good way to be empowered, I never thought I'd be playing sport in my 20s, and then I signed up for this and fell in love with it," she said.

Hill agreed, saying there was a huge range of woman who came to the sport.

"There's women who come to it, who haven't played sport since they were 10 years old," she said.