Hundreds of fruit bats may finally have moved on from a resting place in Adelaide's eastern suburbs.

An estimated 1,300 had moved into trees at suburban Fullarton, causing a smell and noise that residents were not accustomed to.

Scientists have blamed loss of habitat in eastern Australia for the grey-headed flying foxes being further west than in the past.

Loud noise had been used over two days to try to stop the animals returning to suburbia.

Environment Department officers turned on noisy machinery, banged dustpans and saucepan lids and played irritating noise through a loudspeaker.

One of the residents whose trees became a favourite roosting place for the animals, Diane Myers, says they have not come back this time.

"It was very still, there were signs that they'd been feeding and the back of my car was all splattered, but there was no movement in the trees and none of that usual chirping, croaking noise that they make," she said.

"They must have decided they weren't welcome any more."

An expert on flying foxes, Nicola Markus from Bush Heritage Australia, says the push further west by the species is a worrying sign.

"It's both surprising and alarming from an ecological point of view. The habitat has been decimated and is now very patchy," she said.