Fringe frolickers have just three days left to enjoy an event described as the "premiere supermarket for theatre producers".

Tucked away down side streets, inside deserted shops, on roof tops and in bars, the event's 512 shows have helped Adelaide encapsulate the soul of the arts.

The long-running and manically delightful one-man show, Animal Farm, brought Adelaide's ageing Royalty Theatre to life.

Easily the most engaging performance at Adelaide Fringe this year, Guy Masterton and director Tony Boncza successfully and subtly adapted George Orwell's legendary and timeless 1945 fable to reflect the perils of human nature - in a telling style to which contemporary masses can relate.

Other one-man shows at the Fringe did not prove so gutsy.

Geordie stand-up Dan Willis, billed as a "crowd pleaser", provoked a sprinkling of chuckles at best from a small crowd in the Electric Light beer garden with his tales of a moderate comedy career.

As an experience, it was much like bumping into a drunk northern English bloke at a bar - only this time it cost money.

If television producers are looking to fund a new show, the cast of Howard: the Musical would be contenders for Australia's next successful skit show.

A brilliant twist of words, coupled with hilarious impersonations, ensured even some of the lesser known controversies endured by former prime minister John Howard evoked bursts of laughter.

The Spiegeltent in the Garden of Unearthly Delights provided a magnificent atmosphere for the most unusual of performances.

The garden's headlining act, A Company of Strangers, literally mounted a member of the audience, which cringed, laughed and watched on, bewildered by the range of talent its cast offered.

By the time the magical garden closes early Sunday, arts festival organisers estimate more than 600,000 people will have walked through the free-entry gates.

"In the current economic climate it's brilliant that people have still been so enthusiastic about the fringe," fringe chairwoman Judy Potter said.