On Anzac Day, New Zealand's memorial service at Chunuk Bair service will be following the programme to the letter. But during the sunny hill-top rehearsals, there was room for spontaneity.
On Wednesday (local time), the sun bore down on the memorial site which marks New Zealand's greatest achievement in the Gallipoli campaign - and the place where hundreds lost their lives in a futile bid to capture the hill.
Decked out in their standard-issue black T-shirts and jackets, the Maori Culture Group sang waiata and a musician played his haunting conch - or taonga puoro - during the rehearsals.
The white plastic seats, which will soon be packed with 2000 New Zealand pilgrims who've trudged up the goat track and hilly ridge, were empty but for the pools of water from overnight rain.
And while the service on Saturday will be a suitably solemn affair, there was a casual feel at rehearsals.
When a 109-strong group of teenage Sydney musicians bumped into the 25 Kiwi Youth Ambassadors at the memorial, they spontaneously broke into the New Zealand national anthem.
In a move smelling of true teen Anzac spirit, the Kiwis repaid the favour, launching into a rendition of Advance Australia Fair.
After the impromptu mass sing-a-long, the teens swapped stories - and even shared their snacks.
Kiwi historian Christopher Pugsley, who's part of the official New Zealand delegation, was wandering around Chunuk Bair on Wednesday.
It's his 18th visit to Gallipoli, but it was still moving: "It's an enormously emotional landscape."
"You can't not be moved. And every time you come you see it in a slightly different perspective. You ask the same questions but you don't always get the same answers."
Prince Harry and Prince Charles will be attending the Chunuk Bair service on Anzac Day after paying their respects to the Australian soldiers at the Lone Pine service.
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