An Auckland mayoral debate came close to "a brawl" on Tuesday night after a war of words led to a shoving match.

A mayoral candidate who yelled "Oooh, I can feel a brawl!" and "Allahu Akbar" during an Auckland mayoral debate has defended his outburst by saying he was "incredibly drunk".

Adam Holland, the founder of Auckland Legalise Cannabis, commandeered the microphone during the debate at the Auckland University Students' Association bar Shadows on Tuesday night.

Earlier, David Hay, who had already informally pulled out of the mayoral race, was abused by rival Alezix Heneti as he tried to make a speech.

Heneti yelled: "You pulled out! You don't deserve the right to be here!"

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She then tried to snatch the microphone out of Hay's hand.

SUPPLIED Adam Holland is running for the Auckland mayoralty on the Auckland Legalise Cannabis ticket.

Holland said that was when he started yelling: "to defuse the situation to some degree".

"I thought 'This will be a good laugh to commandeer the microphone and just start screaming some utter nonsense'," the 25-year-old said.

Holland yelled "There's going to be a brawl! Oooh, I can feel a brawl!" and "Allahu Akbar" - Arabic for 'God is great'.

SUPPLIED Chloe Swarbrick said on Wednesday that Holland's actions were "quite nasty".

Mayoral hopeful Chloe Swarbrick got between Hay and Heneti as they continued to scream at each other.

Hay later posted a video of the fracas online, saying the debate had turned out to be the most exciting one so far on the campaign.

"Great political theatre!" he said.

Swarbrick said it was the oddest debate she had taken part in during the campaign.

"It was very interesting ... There was a lot of not nice, quite nasty behaviour."

Meanwhile, Holland took to Facebook to defend his actions.

"I, Adam John Holland, in no way endorse or promote violence. I was incredibly drunk at the time and honestly, if the Auckland University Students Association (dropkicks), are offended - I don't care," he wrote.

On Wednesday morning, Holland said that the situation had been blown out of proportion.

It was an "informal" debate and there was a lot of alcohol involved, he said.

"It really wasn't as serious as a lot of people try to make out. I probably did inflame the situation looking back but what can I do about it now?"

He also wanted to set the record straight about his choice of outfit, which had been referred to as a 'kaftan'.

"My Islamic garb cost me $375 from a shop in Mt Roskill," he said.

"I was wearing my Saudi Arabian desert hat but it was getting quite hot so I took that off."