A man found passed out on the footpath after stealing thousands of dollars worth of beer and spirits from a Darwin restaurant has been sentenced to one month in prison.

On Monday night Warren Argall, 44, and another man broke into the Char restaurant cool room, got drunk and then filled a wheelie bin with bottles and cans of stolen alcohol.

When police woke Argall on the adjacent footpath the next morning, surrounded by bottles and empty cans, he said he could not remember anything that had happened that night.

The wheelie bin was nearby.

The two men stole 151 bottles of spirits and 216 stubbies of beer valued at $7,507, the court heard.

He appeared before the Darwin Magistrates Court today and pleaded guilty to all charges.

CCTV footage showed Argall and another man entered the property about 11:00pm on December 29 through an unlocked rear gate and forced the door on the cool room.

CCTV then showed them drinking stolen beer on the restaurant's step, the court heard.

After the pair left the property with their wheelie bin haul of booze several other men then took advantage of the open premises and helped themselves, the court heard.

Argall and the other man also returned several times to pick up more beer.

The group of men, including Argall, entered the property at least eight times in eight hours, from 11:00pm to 7:05am, when police found Argall sleeping outside.

The upmarket waterfront restaurant on the corner of Esplanade and Knuckey streets had been closed for renovations and its stock of beer and spirits had been stored in the locked cool room.

A bag containing the ID of the other man who allegedly broke into the cool room was also found on the restaurant's grounds.

He was arrested a short time later.

Earlier Wednesday morning, Duty Superintendent Louise Jorgensen said the hunt for the other opportunistic thieves continued.

"It is expected the restaurant will be upgrading its security," she said.

The incident followed a man almost blowing himself up attempting to extract money from a Darwin ATM using flammable gas.

Grog the item of choice for alleged thieves

Meanwhile, in Alice Springs, Territory Duty Superintendent Helen Braam said CCTV operators watched as two men, 17 and 22, allegedly broke into a restaurant before taking three bottles of wine each last night.

"This was communicated to members in Alice Springs who were able to successfully apprehend the two males and recover the six bottles of wine," she said.

Superintendent Braam said while crime figures rise in the humid build up season, she knew of no scientific basis on why it was the case.

"I know the Northern Territory talks about mango madness and the silly season ... in terms of assaults and domestics we do seem to have an increase, but I have no evidence to support it is due to the change of season," she said.

Superintendent Braam said she hoped Northern Territorians behaved responsibly when celebrating the New Year.

"We hope people use a Sober Bob, or the free buses that are available."