An international military conference in Adelaide which boasted of attracting “more than 1,100 delegates from around the world” has been derided by attendees as “total bullshit” and compared to the infamous Fyre Festival held in the Bahamas.

This week’s MAST event has been billed as an “international defense event for cutting-edge maritime, air and space technologies”, with Adelaide being “the first southern hemisphere city to host the event in its 17-year history”.

However, furious defense industry figures claim organizers of the MAST 24 conference have greatly exaggerated the number of attendees and falsely endorsed officials such as Australia’s Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Mark Hammond.

“They over promised and under delivered. The companies and organizations that MAST 24 said they would attend are not here and the claim of over 1,000 people is ridiculous, it could only be half of that,” a conference attendee told the ABC.

“Despite claims that there would be dozens of exhibitors at MAST, there were only a handful of booths and none of the defense officials that the organizers said would be featured here.”

“It’s a total disgrace and a total piece of shit – not even the South Australian Defense Minister or SA Defense Chief showed up, reminded me of the Fyre Festival,” joked another defense industry insider.

“There are dozens of Japanese officials and representatives here, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone from the Australian Department of Defense in an official capacity.”

A local defense company claims it paid almost $10,000 to exhibit at the Adelaide Convention Center during the three-day event, only to discover it was not on the list of participants and no materials were delivered to the venue.

Industry figures claim at least two major Australian defense companies wrote to organizers ahead of the event to ask to be removed from material falsely portraying them as official conference attendees.

MAST CEO Warren Edge dismissed criticism of the showcase, telling the ABC he was “not aware of any incorrect advertising by the companies” and insisted organizers “made every effort to ensure this did not took place”.

“MAST received communication last Thursday 14 November that Vice Admiral Mark Hammond was unable to attend due to operational matters and subsequently updated our website on Saturday morning (due to international travel of key personnel on Friday),” he said in a statement.

“We have been informed that unfortunately one exhibitor was unable to complete their installation before the start of the event and we are working to rectify this with them.”

The Department of Defense declined to comment on the controversy, but the ABC confirmed that Vice Admiral Mark Hammond had not received an invitation to speak at the MAST 24 Conference.

The South Australian government declined to comment on the funding offered to host the MAST 24 conference, citing “commercially secure” contract provisions.

“Funding is provided to business events that meet strict criteria and reconciliation is completed after the business event and is based on performance,” a government spokesman told the ABC.

“The Treasurer and Minister for Defense and Space Industries and the CEO of Defense SA were unable to attend the MAST event as they are currently visiting the UK for a series of high-level discussions, including with defense companies.”

The spokesman declined to say whether the MAST conference would be held in Adelaide in the future, but confirmed acting Premier Susan Close attended this week’s event.