Justin Bieber's #BieberIsland

Bieber Island: Thousands of fans set sail for Justin Bieber's Sunrise performance

If you check your map of Sydney Harbour for "Bieber Island" you may feel some relief to find it isn't there.

But that didn't stop 1200 mostly female true Beliebers setting sail aboard three ferries at dawn, pumping out the pop star's slick tunes, on Wednesday morning in search of their nirvana.

A handful of fans from Wollongong arrived first at King Street Wharf at 5pm on Tuesday and camped out, ahead of the promotional concert on Sydney Harbour's Cockatoo Island, arranged to promote his chart-topping single What do you mean? and pending new album.

Twelve hours later the line stretched hundreds of metres.

At least 90 per cent were women under 25 (mostly competition winners) plus 400 VIPs, record company staff, security, media and a few cool dads. Even former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke was infected with Bieber Fever.

India Hartford-Davis, 22, from Cremorne, who scored a freebie said she "wants to become a Belieber".

"It takes someone special to grow up in the spotlight and achieve what he has. I like where he's going with his music too," Hartford-Davis told Fairfax Media.

"I just want to see what his hair is doing," her friend Chloe Donnelly, 27, from Freshwater said.

Michael Hopper, 35, from Brisbane chaperoned his two daughters, Imijin,13, and Mikaela, 12.

Mikaela admitted liking Bieber "because he acts like he loves every girl".

Her dad frowned but shrugged "not much I can do about that". He joined in the celebratory spirit though: "It's pretty cool, pretty exciting."

Bieber earned a mix of ire and understanding earlier this week for complaining his fans scream at him when they meet him. He reportedly just wants "a conversation" with them.

Most fans seemed reluctant to comply though, with shrieks filling the air around the makeshift stage on Bieber Island.

Olivia Cianci, 22, from Alexandria planned "a bit of a scream, a bit of a dance".

She joked her friend, Angelique Brown, 27 "might even take her bra off" for the hunky young star but added it was more likely she'd cry instead.