Missing out in the tightly controlled ballot for places at the official Gallipoli Dawn Service won't stop thousands of Australians attending ceremonies across the peninsula.
All 10,500 places for the service at the Australian Commemorative Site on North Beach have been allocated, but an estimated 10,000 more Australian and New Zealand tourists are in the region wanting to be a part of Anzac Day commemorations.
Two alternative services are being held on land, while cruise ships anchored off the Turkish coast - each with up to 2,000 people on board - have also organised ceremonies on board.
Tour operator and military historian Matt McLachlan has prepared a dawn service for 500 tour group members at a location on the Asian side of the Dardanelles.
Mr McLachlan said the location was not being disclosed for security reasons.
"Basically we are doing our own service, which will run for an hour before the official service. Then the main service will be broadcast on a big screen," Mr McLachlan told AAP.
Another tour operator and historian, Paul Murphy, has organised a service in the town of Gallipoli, which is 40km from Anzac Cove.
Mr Murphy's company, Military History Tours, has 1500 tourists arriving by ship on Tuesday.
He told AAP he expected 4,000 people at the Gallipoli service but that figure could grow to 10,000 after an outdoor venue in the town of Canakkale was cancelled.
Mr Murphy has criticised the Department of Veterans' Affairs' handling of the official Dawn Service, warning traffic and pass checks will cause chaos.
He has no doubt the service itself at North Beach will be well run but he's worried about the authorities' plan to get everyone onto the peninsula.
"It's an absolute nightmare," he told AAP.
"The first checkpoint is to make sure you've got a pass but why you put it on a highway 9km north of (the turn-off into the national park) is beyond me.
"It's one lane each way and I don't know how they are going to stop hundreds of coaches there to check passes."
Mr McLachlan said the DVA had a difficult job ensuring both security and fairness by limiting numbers in the ballot, and many tour operators would have been unhappy at not being able to bring in more tourists.
He said getting people in and out of the official site over 12 or more hours will be a complex task and "if a few things start to go wrong, things could fall apart very quickly".
"I think it's got the potential to get a bit messy," he said.
"But I think the chance of it being an absolute disaster is highly unlikely."
Prime Minister Tony Abbott and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key are flying to Turkey for the Dawn Service, which will be held amid tight security with almost 4,000 Turkish military police on duty.
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