Having drifted along for much of September, approving as few as 58 new apps on a single day, the staff green lighted “an avalance of apps” on Friday according to AppShopper.com. A total of 1,394 new applications were approved that day, 302 of them games.

AppShopper doesn’t say whether Friday’s haul set a new record, although that seems likely. The previous high over the previous two months was 947, set on July 30.

As of Tuesday morning, there were 81,161 active applications available on the U.S. portion of the App Store, according to 148Apps.biz. New apps are coming in at the average rate of 296 a day, according to that site, down from a peak of 356 in June.

According to Apple’s Aug. 21 letter to the FCC, new apps and updates pour into the store at the rate of 8,500 per week, where they are reviewed at least twice by a staff of 40 full-time reviewers.

If Apple hasn’t staffed up since then, Friday must have been a very busy day indeed.

“We had heard Apple had had quite a back log of approvals,” wrote AppShopper’s arn, “so hopefully, they have cleared the queue for now.”

Below the fold: AppShopper’s full chart and what it reveals about the review staff’s work habits.

Some observations:

• The staff works 7 days a week.
• Saturdays tend to be slow, but Mondays can be even slower
• Wednesdays tend to be especially productive
• A lot of work gets done on Sundays

It was on a Sunday, you may recall, that Apple and  Google (GOOG) began a series of in-person meetings, phone calls and e-mails that ended in the non-approval of Google Voice app.

See also:

• 40 staffers. 2 reviews. 8,500 iPhone apps per week
• What did Apple and Google talk about for three weeks in July?