The gaol is in the middle of a $1.39 million redevelopment to create a more modern experience for visitors.

Old Dubbo Gaol's visitor experience officer Chris Anemaat said the new displays would help bring a life-like interpretation to the cells, while sharing the stories of the prisoners who stayed there.

"It's been a massive journey. It's not just one exhibition or one piece of the gaol that's being upgraded, it's essentially changing the whole permanent exhibition of the site," he said.

"It's been quite the journey but it's revealed a whole lot of new and interesting stuff. We're looking at the gaol in a new and interesting light now."

Here's some of what you'll be able to experience.

Mr Anemaat said the women's division will become the "jewel" of the gaol when the exhibition space is completed.

The area used to be a theatrette but has been completely stripped back to its original floors and walls.

"This is going to be the most incredible part of the development. It's going to be an environmentally-controlled gallery space for our hangman's kit," Mr Anemaat said.

The hangman's kit in Dubbo is of national significance. It's the largest collection of hangman's ropes in Australia.

They'll be put on display in the gallery space, alongside items of control and punishment, like the whipping stool and nine tails.

The original pieces of the gallows will also be on display in the middle of the room.

Plus, faces of the condemned men from the gaol will be on the walls, watching you as you walk around.

The men's divisions will be "a little bit eerie" thanks to a new soundscape.

Mr Anemaat researched what the Old Dubbo Gaol doctor had written in the Paramatta Lunatic Asylum entrance book. The subtle noises will echo through the area to give people an idea of what the space sounded like.

"Gone is the overwhelming noise of people talking. You'll hear laughter and talking from the padded cell, little bits of counting and prayers... it kind of makes things a little bit eerie," he said.

"This is all stuff prisoners would have heard. If you were a lunatic keeper watching over the prisoners to make sure they didn't harm themselves or the other prisoners, this is the sort of stuff you would hear while you were trying to sleep."

Visitors will also be able to peer into the cells and see different little pieces of history, like a cobbler making shoes - as they did in the gaol - or pieces of graffiti that have been scratched into the walls.

"The next stage is to fill the cells with prisoner stories," Mr Anemaat said.

"You'll get these big blown up images of prisoners and some of them will be, not confronting, but they'll make you do a double take.

"There's one of a kid who was 13 when he was held in Dubbo gaol and he just looks so young. Each one will give a bit of a life stories of the prisoners."

The kitchen space will be turned into a temporary exhibition space. It will tell the stories of different points in the gaol, such as what it was like during war time or the cons that were played on people.

Mr Anemaat expects possibly every six months it could be changed to capture a different element of the gaol.

"That'll be good for Dubbo visitors but also good for Dubbo residents. For a while you'd come here once every five years and see the exact same thing, so exploring all these really interesting stories of escapes or games the prisoners played... it gives us an ability to take the stories we've been researching and get them out there," he said.

"We've got stories of over 1000 prisoners who were held in Dubbo gaol. All of the events from influenzas to wars, they had impacts here."

There are four people, maybe more, who are believed to have been buried on the Old Dubbo Gaol grounds - two people who were hanged, one who got sick and died and another who is unknown.

The gaol had an archaeological survey done and ground penetrating radar showed the area that was the most likely location for the graves.

A small installation will acknowledge the graves.

A new display in the exercise yard will show the calisthenic stretches the prisoners took part in.

"There's about 15 of these images and we've recorded audio of a shortened drill. We're picturing a self-guided tour and mums and dads saying 'okay kids, follow that'," Mr Anemaat said.

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Each step of the redevelopment has revealed some amazing new things at the gaol. From a King George penny to pieces of bottles, Mr Anemaat said it was amazing that when trenches were being dug or a painter was touching up the walls, things were constantly being revealed.

Now it's nearing completion, the visitor experience officer said he was ready for it to be done so the public could experience it.

"Particularly getting people in and seeing those gallows displays is going to be really exciting," Mr Anemaat said.

"With the animatronics gone it's a big change for people to grapple with - I remember being a kid and being scared by them. But hopefully, with some of the plans we have when we're finished to keep adding to the site and using new technology, people will take this on and realise it's just a new way to approach the space."

Dubbo Regional Council contributed $809,725 towards the work while the other $600,000 came from the NSW government.

Mr Anemaat hopes it will be completed in February.