Patrons of the Wet ’n’ Wild Sydney New Year’s Eve festival that was cancelled just hours before the event will be able to claim refunds from the promoters, according to the NSW fair trading minister.

One Cube Entertainment had organised a New Year’s Eve event at the Sydney theme park. But partygoers were left disappointed after One Cube abruptly cancelled the event, citing a “major technical production issue”.

A statement was released on 10am on New Year’s Eve that said: ”We have made the very difficult decision to postpone our New Year’s Eve event at Wet ’n’ Wild Sydney.

”This decision is in the best interest of our patrons.”

Wet ’n’ Wild Sydney said it had raised some concerns with the company that led to One Cube making the decision.

“We had some transport and logistics issues we raised with One Cube and they made the decision to postpone the event,” a spokesman said.

The NSW fair trading minister, Stuart Ayres, said the company had agreed to facilitate refunds to patrons, describing it as a “debacle”.

“I have been advised ticket sellers have given an undertaking to provide refunds as quickly as possible,” he told Fairfax Media.

“If anyone has any problems in securing a refund they can lodge a complaint with Fair Trading online at www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au.”

Nikola Alavanja, Diego Tobar, Eric Woo and Ruchitha Perera are listed as the directors of One Cube and work in other events and promotions positions in Sydney.

Two of the directors made a number of Facebook posts in the days leading up to the event, and appeared to still be promoting it the day before it was scheduled to happen.

“NYE Festival Tomorrow!!! See you all at Wet ’n’ Wild,” posted Alavanja on Monday.

Woo also posted about meeting Wet ’n’ Wild Sydney to discuss the event.

“OMG back for another!!! 2 days to go til NYE,” he posted on 29 December.

Guardian Australia contacted Eric Woo, who said that he and the other organisers could not add any further comment at this stage.

“I can’t say anything at the moment. Stay in touch, there will be more details,” he said on Wednesday.