The ban, ordered by Wollongong City Council, will coincide with the end of stage one works on the mall ahead of a three-month break. Construction will resume in February.

The smoking ban means all smokers will be required to leave the mall to light up.

Deputy Lord Mayor Chris Connor said there had been overwhelming community support for the ban during the council's consultation period, with more than 85 per cent of people surveyed in support of a smoke-free zone.

Crown St Mall: thank you for not smoking

"Smoking is one of the major causes of preventable death in our society," he said.

"Any steps that council can make towards enhancing our city and the experience that people have when visiting our Crown Street Mall will make it a more enjoyable place."

The smoking ban will be in addition to the state government ban introduced in January, which ruled out smoking within four metres of building entrances, within 10 metres of playgrounds and at all public swimming pools, sports grounds, public transport stops and stations.

Further, from July 2015 it will be an offence to smoke in outdoor dining areas and the council is also considering a ban in the new arts precinct between Burelli and Crown streets.

The three-month construction break in the mall, starting on October 31, is designed to give retailers some respite from the persistent drilling, digging and paving that has plagued the shopping strip since work began in March.

"The plan was always to be out of the mall for the busy Christmas period," Wollongong City Council public relations manager Susan Wardle said.

"We really appreciate that the businesses on the mall are individuals' livelihoods ... and processes like this are never easy.

"Retailers have been really supportive over this time and a lot of them can see that it's going to be a really big benefit for the city to have this work complete in the end."

Ms Wardle said most of the barriers and hoardings in the centre of the mall would come down for summer, revealing the first phase of works and paving in the shopping strip.

She said work to date had progressed to plan, meaning most of the western end of the mall would be paved by the end of October and there would be minimal work occurring during business hours over summer.

"We may pop in over a week or two at night time to put in some of the seating, but otherwise we won't be doing too much work in that area over the next three months," Ms Wardle said.

"So the mall will be very open and decluttered for summer."

Crown Street Mall construction work is expected to be finished by the end of October 2014.