Community pressure and a last–minute phone call appear to have saved the day for Darwin institution, the Deckchair Cinema, but the organisation, which has been locked in a fierce battle over the RSL Esplanande development, remains on “high alert”.

One of the biggest public galleries seen in years at a council meeting sent an unmistakable signal to the elected members there is broad public support for saving the outdoor theatre.

Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis on Wednesday declared he no longer supports the Darwin RSL’s plans to build a new clubhouse on The Esplanade, after a last minute phone call revealed the site holds cultural significance to the custodians of the land – the Larrakia people.

But the Deckchair Cinema is not calling it a win yet.

“We’ll remain vigilant,” Darwin Film Society deputy chair John Schier said.

“The [RSL’s] proposal is still on the table for council to potentially provide that in-kind support.”

Hundreds of people turned up to a Darwin City Council meeting last night in a rally of support for the Deckchair Cinema.

The council’s vote deferral sent shockwaves through the crowd and caught everyone off guard.

But Mr Schier said that while remaining on “high alert”, the council’s decision to defer the vote was a show of honesty, something residents of Darwin have been calling for.

“This isn’t a win, we see it as a correct decision,” he said.

“I think we can take this as a learning opportunity that all parties need to be open and transparent, there needs to be procedures in place, and it should be a warning that if the process had been transparent from the onset, we may not have run into this.”

According to Mr Shier, the Deckchair Cinema reached out to the Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation when the RSL first spruiked its plans for a $10 million club – to replace the original site which burnt down in 2018 – but were not made aware that sacred sites would be an issue.

“We are really surprised for this to happen when it did, but not everyone is across the news, all the time,” he said.

Last night, Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis said new “vital” information about the land had landed on his desk at around 5.20 – too late in the day to convey with elected members before a significant vote.

But this morning he disclosed Larrakia nations elder Biliwara Lee provided information about the site that proved the “significance of the site is great”.

“The proposed site has significant cultural importance to the Larrakia people as the Rainbow Serpent trail crosses through it and it is a sacred women’s birthing site,” he told the NT Independent.

“It blew me away.”

The Darwin RSL Sub Branch put a proposal into council to build a new club house on The Esplanade, at what they say is a historically significant site. Picture: David Wood.

According to the Lord Mayor, the correspondence with Ms Biliwara has provided him with enough reason to reverse his tightly-held stance of support for a new RSL clubhouse on The Esplanade.

Manager of the Deckchair Cinema, James Parker, agreed the vote deferral was both unpredicted and shocking.

But, he said, the groundswell of support for uncommercialised public space in Darwin recognised the battle was much bigger than the clash between the Deckchair Cinema and the RSL.

“A crowd of 400 people turning up to a council meeting on a Tuesday at 5.30 is quite something,” he said.

“We had to raise the alarm and protect the cinema. But no one predicted such a huge turnout of residents who love the city.”

Mr Parker highlighted that while the council had done a fantastic job at greening the city, this was an opportunity for it to take note.

“These people were there because they think the site is important and that it shouldn’t be sold for commercial purposes.

“We take some comfort in the result, especially as it has been a very divisive issue for some time, but we need to take this as an opportunity to implement smart town planning.”