THE smaller-than-promised crowd at yesterday's Convoy of No Confidence rally was enraged by the allegation that their numbers were depleted because the police had turned back a convoy of trucks at the border - even though rally organisers knew it was not true.

The Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce and Liberal frontbencher Sophie Mirabella repeated the accusation that the police had prevented trucking protesters from attending and broadcaster Alan Jones said a truck convoy two kilometres long had been stopped at the border, and that this was ''the most disgraceful thing that has ever been done to our democracy''.

Roll on down the highway ... one of the protesters displays a clear message while driving past Parliament House yesterday. About 200 trucks arrived in Canberra in convoys from around Australia, including Port Hedland and Darwin. Credit:Andrew Meares

About 200 trucks arrived in Canberra in convoys from around Australia, including Port Hedland and Darwin, but organisers had been predicting many more.

The ACT police quickly clarified no trucks had been stopped and in fact the convoys had been given a special escort into the national capital.