Australians along the east coast are one celebration closer to the new year with family firework displays revving up crowds for the main event.
Sydneysiders were treated to a spectacular show with busts of colour lighting up Sydney Harbour and a waterfall of sparks cascading from the Harbour Bridge.
Among the million people on the waterfront were Louise Atab and her two young children who made their annual pilgrimage from the city's west and will now drive straight home to Bankstown to catch the midnight show on TV.
"We've been doing this for years now and there's something really special about it, the kids just love it, being here among all these people," Ms Atab told AAP.
Anabelle, 8, explained her tactic for making it to midnight.
"I'll have an hour's sleep on the way to make sure I can stay awake."
In Melbourne families gathered in Yarra Park for a warm and sunny afternoon of entertainment and games ahead of the early family fireworks.
The show didn't disappoint the crowds of squealing children who clutched glow sticks in every colour.
Mark and Anita Jones took their daughters Indigo, 11, and Dakota, 8, for the second year after moving from Sydney.
"We can go out for a beautiful dinner beforehand, as we've done, and then come down here," Mr Jones told AAP.
"And then we go back and watch the fireworks from our verandah, for midnight."
Half a million people are expected to flood the CBD for a view of the midnight rooftop display being set off from a number of vantage points around the city.
Nearly 10 tonnes of fireworks will be set off with Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle predicting the show will be the "biggest and best ever".
"Nearly 10 tonnes of fireworks will be fired higher, more densely and powerfully than ever before," he told reporters.
Brisbane's CBD lit up with a spectacular early fireworks ahead of a larger show to ring in the new year an hour after the state's southern neighbours.
More than 100,000 revellers are expected turn out at Brisbane's South Bank to view the largest New Year's Eve display in the state's history.
The synchronised fireworks display will be set off from five barges and three CBD rooftops, coinciding with a display on the Gold Coast.
One particularly keen group of revellers intends to ring in the new year in northern NSW before crossing the border into Queensland for a second celebration an hour later.
