Pouring rain has dogged Anzac Day commemorations in Canberra, but other capitals around the country have turned on clear skies for services and marches.
Thousands of people have gathered in Australia's capital cities to watch the major Anzac Day marches and show their support for past and present defence force veterans and current serving members.
Worries about possible terrorist attacks and drenching rain failed to deter hundreds of thousands of people turning out for the marches.
While numbers were down at some Anzac dawn services, large crowds flocked to the mid-morning parades to pay tribute to Australia's servicemen and women.
Security was tight at many venues, including Sydney where police used water-filled barriers and blocked roads amid concerns about a potential lone-wolf style terrorist attack.
WWII vets lead Sydney's Anzac Day march
Up to 100,000 people - the same number of Australians who have lost their lives in war - have lined the streets of Sydney for the Anzac Day march.
WWII veterans travelling in taxis led the march along Elizabeth St from Martin Place at 9am following Tuesday's dawn service at Martin Place.
Spectators waved flags, cheered and thanked them as they passed.
Jan, daughter of David Wilson who served in the army in New Guinea during WWII, said she prefers to watch from the sidelines than march with other descendants.
"Two of his unit are still marching today, we will go and meet up with them later," she told AAP.
A WWII veteran who helped rebuild the Japanese city of Hiroshima after it was flattened by an atomic bomb says he will never forget the destruction he witnessed.
Charlie Munnery, 93, was a soldier in New Guinea from 1944 to 1945 and spent 19 months with the occupation forces in Hiroshima after the war.
"There were a lot of women and children that were burned by the blast from the atomic bomb," he told AAP from the sidelines of Sydney's Anzac Day march on Tuesday.
"I never want to see it again.
"Hiroshima was desolate - open areas were full of rubble, all the electric poles were bent parallel to the ground and bridges were buckled."
Mr Munnery had to rid the area of mines and guns while rebuilding the city.
Women veterans step up to march out in Melbourne
While some women veterans have felt uncomfortable marching on Anzac Day, a group of ex-servicewomen is stepping out to change that.
The Women Veterans Network Australia is marching in four cities for the first time and they are among the thousands of veterans and their families marching in Melbourne.
"A group of young female vets started it because we felt we didn't really have a place to be and we wanted to band together and support each other," Tiffany Ahuja told AAP in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Ms Ahuja was deployed to East Timor in 1999 and 2000.
Veterans march to the shrine during the Anzac Day march during Anzac Day commemorations at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. (AAP) Source: AAP
She says Anzac Day brought mixed emotions for a lot of women who served in the defence forces.
"You'll find that there's women who are highly decorated that will still say 'I don't deserve to be there' or 'I don't feel comfortable being there, because I'm a woman and I didn't fight on the front line'," she said.
"We just want them to know that we're all here for them, and any time of the year, not just Anzac Day."
Ms Ahuja said the group was getting strong support, especially in places with large military populations like Townsville and Darwin.
She said it was likely to increase as women begin to take on more combat roles.
For John Rerakis and the Pancretan Association the Anzac Day march is about remembering the sacrifices Anzacs made in Greece and passing on that lesson to the younger generation.
"We're here to remember everyone who sacrificed their lives so we're here today and respect the freedom and what they stood up for," Mr Rerakis told AAP.
"It's more our duty to pass it on. The reality is growing up in the 1970s it wasn't as cool walking around saying we were from a Greek background.
"But these days we've got to remember where we came from and got to remember all those roots."
The traditional march from the Melbourne CBD to the Shrine of Remembrance comes after the dawn service, which brought 30,000 people together to hear Victoria Cross winner Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith speak.
Veterans march to the shrine during the Anzac Day march during Anzac Day commemorations at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. (AAP) Source: AAP
Young flock to national Anzac service
A sea of umbrellas lined Anzac Parade in front of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and many were sheltering children and young people.
"It's the next generation respecting our heritage because I think Anzac Day is a really strong part of Australian heritage and especially Australian culture," Conor McNamara told AAP.
He and two friends were among the 38,000 people who attended the dawn service in Canberra, and they decided to stay for the parade as well.
"It is important that we thank the people that allowed us to have the country that we do," he said.
Seven-year-old Matthew De Boer said he was at the service with his mother Liz and younger sister Sophia "to celebrate the people who died to keep us safe".
Their father, an ex-serviceman, was marking Anzac Day in Gallipoli this year.
Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce will represent the federal government at the national service as Malcolm Turnbull is in the Middle East visiting Australian troops.
Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, the Defence Force vice chief, will deliver the commemorative address.
Crowds gather in Brisbane for Anzac parade
Thousands of people have lined the streets of Brisbane as servicemen and women take their positions ahead of the annual Anzac Day parade.
Some arrived early with camping chairs and blankets, while others have rushed to get a good vantage point before the 10am start on the corner of George and Adelaide streets.
Onlookers have donned poppies, badges and Australian flags as a mark of respect for those who have served.
Anzac Day is doubly hard for Korean War veteran Alfred Roland Ellis.
The former serviceman's wife died on April 25 two years ago, while he was paying respects to his mates who died for their country.
A young girl is seen wearing medals during an Anzac Day march in Southport on the Gold Coast. (AAP) Source: AAP
Mr Ellis said although it was a difficult day, it meant a lot for him to march in the annual Brisbane parade on Tuesday.
"I get a bit teary-eyed thinking of my mates," he told AAP. "I'm proud to have served."
Mr Ellis, who has taken part in every Anzac parade since 1957, was one of thousands of former and current servicemen and women who received a revered reception as they proudly marched down Brisbane's main streets.
Onlookers crowded along George, Adelaide and Creek streets to pay their respects to Australia's defence force personnel.
Family Anzac Day history grows on Gold Coast
For more than a century, Trevor Mailman's family has been intrinsically linked to Anzac Day.
Born and raised in New Zealand, Mr Mailman served NZ in the Malaysia and Borneo theatres during the 1960s.
His service carried on a tradition which includes his World War II veteran father and two uncles who died during the campaign at Gallipoli, where the Anzac legend was forged.
Now a naturalised Australian living on the Gold Coast, Mr Mailman held his granddaughters' hands as he joined hundreds of veterans for the Anzac Day parade at Southport.
Young boys are look on during an Anzac Day service in Southport on the Gold Coast. (AAP) Source: AAP
"They asked me. The oldest one is seven and she marched last year with me," Mr Mailman told AAP.
"They get taught all about it."
Thousands lined the route for the march - one of several being held across the Gold Coast on Tuesday - clapping and saluting servicemen and women from different eras and services.
NT crowds support Anzacs march
Territorians have lined the streets of Darwin to support about 2000 veterans and serving defence force personnel marching for Anzac Day.
The parade includes some of the last surviving World War Two diggers, young troops fresh from deployments in the Middle East and about 100 US Marines currently serving in the NT capital.
Thousands of Territorians have lined the streets in the steamy Darwin sun to pay their respects to the soldiers from the army, navy and air force, 102 years since the landing at Gallipoli.
Bob Shewring's connection to Anzac Day stretches back to one of the bloodiest battles of World War I, and now the Northern Territory veteran's grandchildren draw pride from their family's sacrifice.
The former Vietnam soldier's father served in World War II, and his great uncle's name is etched on Darwin's Cenotaph for giving his life in WWI during the Battle of the Somme on the Western Front in France.
Defence forces veterans and active servicemen and women take part in an ANZAC Day march through central Brisbane. (AAP) Source: AAP
"He's in an unmarked grave over there. It's very poignant," Mr Shewring told AAP.
With medals over his heart, the 70-year-old marched alongside his two teenage grandchildren in Darwin's Anzac Day parade as thousands of Territorians lined the streets and applauded.
"It's fantastic to see the younger people turning up. I'm honoured to have my grandchildren with me and supporting me," Mr Shewring said.
Skies clear for SA Anzac Day march
The skies have cleared over central Adelaide ahead of the annual Anzac Day march which will feature up to 6000 current and former servicemen and women.
About 6000 current and former servicemen and women took part in the annual event on Tuesday, spanning from the Adelaide War Memorial to the Cross of Sacrifice.
Thousands of others lined the route to pay tribute to them with claps and cheers.
Time has not diminished the emotion some South Australian servicemen and women feel from marching through Adelaide on Anzac Day.
Scott Dolling, 91, says he treads the city's pavement for the event every year, which casts his mind back to his time in Australia's first naval bombardment group during World War II.
"You find yourself thinking back about the other fellas in the unit and where we went to and different places," he told AAP at the march on Tuesday.
"So it's quite encouraging really. I enjoy it."
Though he is the last one left marching from his unit in SA, Mr Dolling was joined by his daughter Mareeta who has now taken part in about 30 marches herself.
She said she has learnt a little more about her father's role in the landings in Borneo at every one.
Watch: Malcolm Turnbull's Anzac Day message
Antarctica expeditioners mark Anzac Day
Australian expeditioners in Antarctica have marked Anzac Day in sub-zero temperatures at four research stations.
Dawn services were held at each of Australia's Casey, Davis, Mawson and Macquarie Island bases on Tuesday.
"It was brisk -16C at Casey this morning as the expeditioners gathered around the flagpole for our dawn service," research station expeditioner Clint Chilcott said in a statement.
Mr Chilcott, who was in the Australian Army for 18 years, led the service at Casey attended by 22 expeditioners living at the station this winter.
"We lowered the Australian flag, listened to several readings and held the traditional two minutes of silence," he said.
The service was followed by brunch, games of two-up and an eight ball competition.
The Australian Antarctic Program has had closed links with the ADF since it was founded in 1947.
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Anzac Day: Dawn services held across the country
