Before the crowds arrived, even before the sun came up, Kelly Spaulding laid a flower at Port Arthur to mark the two-decade anniversary of Australia's worst massacre.
The fifth-generation local later returned for Thursday's official commemorative service, but his pre-dawn visit was most poignant.
"I went over at 5am and laid my flower and had my moment when nobody was there," he told AAP.
By midday some 500 people, including former prime minister John Howard and current leader Malcolm Turnbull, had gathered for official proceedings, during which Mr Spaulding stood up the back away from the main crowd.
He was 19 years old on April 28, 1996 when 35 people were killed and 23 others were wounded as a lone gunman armed with a semi-automatic weapon launched a bloody killing spree at the Port Arthur Historic Site.
A former employee at the site, Mr Spaulding rushed to the scene after hearing news of the shootings and with the gunman still on the loose, went into lockdown at the order of police.
Like many in attendance on Thursday, the 20th anniversary was his first time at an official service.
"I probably had feelings I had never dealt with," Mr Spaulding said.
"I was there that afternoon and ever since have memories of that day."
Melbourne woman Sue Vittori was another drawn to Thursday's service.
She had been the site's media and marketing manager in 1996 and was called in to handle the influx of enquiries.
"I remember the first call came from CNN in Atlanta within the first hour," she said.
It was the start of relentless international media coverage which only ended when she moved away from the Tasman Peninsula six months later.
"I felt called back to my old workplace," she said of her attendance on Thursday, for which she crossed Bass Strait especially.
Ms Vittori said she was pleased the 20th anniversary was marked with an official event.
"I know a lot of people who at the 10th anniversary just weren't ready to be here. Some of those people I've seen today."
Despite the passing of two decades, the emotion was clearly still raw for many who attended the service.
Tears flowed as 35 floral tributes were laid near a reflection pool beside the site of the former Broad Arrow Cafe, where the majority of people were killed.
"Despite the healing, the sense of loss weighs heavy. We will never be the same," Mr Turnbull said of the massacre during his address to the service.
Occupying a front-row seat was former Mr Howard, the driving force for tighter gun laws following the 1996 massacre.
Mr Turnbull committed his government to uphold strict firearm legislation.
"It will be forever a legacy of those here on that day - those who died and those who survived - that gun violence in Australia is an exception rather than a brutal regular reality as it is so sadly in so many other parts of the world," he said.
Port Arthur gunman Martin Bryant pleaded guilty to 35 counts of murder and is jailed in Hobart for life without the chance of parole.
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