Australia's Vietnamese community have turned out to farewell their "father" Malcolm Fraser.
General secretary of the Vietnamese community in Victoria Phong Nguyen said it was like losing their own parent.
"We call him our father and our saviour," Mr Nguyen told AAP on Friday.
"He means everything to us but mostly freedom for saving us from the refugee camp. It's a very deep loss for our community."
Mr Nguyen met Mr Fraser several times and had an appointment with the former prime minister this week.
"His ongoing support of the community was unwavering," Mr Nguyen said.
He is one of about a 100 people waiting outside St Michael's Uniting Church, where there will be a screen showing the state service for Mr Fraser across the road in Scots' Church.
The Vietnamese community in NSW will pay tribute to Mr Fraser at a Community Memorial Service on Sunday 29 March 2015 at 6pm, at Freedom Plaza, in Cabramatta. Listen to SBS Vietnamese RadioMr Fraser died on March 20, aged 84, after a brief illness.
Former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Bob Hawke will miss his state service at 11.30am due to prior commitments overseas.
But former prime ministers Julia Gillard, John Howard and Paul Keating are expected to join Prime Minister Tony Abbott at the service.
Mr Fraser served as Australia's 22nd prime minister from November 1975 to March 1983, recording a landslide election win after being appointed caretaker leader following the dismissal of the Whitlam government on November 11, 1975.
The church is expected to be full with invited family, friends and dignitaries but there will be seating for up to 1000 members of the public in St Michael's, where the service will be televised.
Malcolm Turnbull has entered the church after briefly greeting members on the Vietnamese community who are holding signs: "Farewell to our true champion of humanity".
Philip Ruddock has also arrived, along with former Governor-General Quentin Bryce, and former prime ministers Paul Keating and Julia Gillard, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill.
Former Victorian premier Denis Napthine has also arrived to farewell the former member for Wannon.
Education Minister Christopher Pyne, Treasurer Joe Hockey and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews are also at the service, which is about to get under way.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has also arrived, after flying in from Tasmania, as have members of the Fraser family.
Current Wannon MP Dan Tehan said he was always conscious of the legacy Mr Fraser left in his electorate.
"One of the things impressed upon me when I talk to constituents about Malcolm Fraser was the work ethic he took to the job," he said.
"He had a real touch with the people of Wannon."
Mr Fraser's actions touched many people, including Richard Tanter, a politics professor at University of Melbourne who worked with him.
"It seemed to me in the last half of his life he worked in an extraordinary way for the Australians we don't want to look at most of the time," Professor Tanter said.
Close friend and minister in the Fraser government, Peter Nixon, will give the eulogy at the state service.
Mr Fraser's granddaughter, Hester Fraser, will perform The Camellia Tree, playing piano and singing.
His children, Hugh Fraser and Phoebe Wynn-Pope will deliver family reflections.
A private burial will follow the state funeral service.
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