More than 120 hams and turkeys were prepared to feed around 3000 people at a free Christmas Day lunch for the poor, the lonely and the needy in Sydney's inner west.
The Exodus Foundation's Reverend Bill Crews said that before midday (AEDT) there was already a queue stretching onto Liverpool Road at Ashfield for the lunch.
He said it was the foundation's 27th free Christmas Day lunch and each year the number of people turning up increased.
"With the cost of living as high as it is I'm not surprised that today's turnout is high," Rev Crews said.
"Just because you're lonely or you can't afford Christmas doesn't mean you have to go without," he said.
Rev Crews said the annual lunch began with a plate of sandwiches and two lonely people 27 years ago, had grown to feed more than 400 people within four years and this year was set to be the biggest yet.
Guests were set to eat their way through more than 65 hams, 55 turkeys, 540kg of baked vegetables, 220 litres of gravy and 330 litres of custard.
Meanwhile, at Eveleigh in inner Sydney the Salvation Army's Streetlevel Mission expects to feed around 1500 people in its 16th year of operation.
The Salvation Army's Robyn Evans said more than 150 volunteers had given part of their day to help bring hope to the lonely, the homeless and the disadvantaged.
Every child and teenager attending was to get a bag of Christmas gifts from Santa.
At Sydney's King's Cross, the Wayside Chapel was holding its annual Christmas Day Street Party with dancing, singing and a sit-down lunch for more than 600 guests, and with several hundred others also expected to be fed.
"Normally I ask the good Lord to send us some rain around 3pm, but I think he's got his whole schedule wrong," Reverend Graham Long told AAP.
He said the chapel had hosted the party for almost half a century, since 1964.
"Originally it started out as a smallish barbecue in the back alley and it just grew over the years."
Reverend Long said about 1000 people would be fed over the day, with 600 attending a sit-down lunch.
"There are more people doing this sort of thing now, so it's actually shrunk a little," he said.
Guests sat under a block-long marquee as the rain began in earnest, singing carols and enjoying the antics of an exuberant choir.
Biker Randall "Animal" Nelson, a Kings Cross fixture, handed out boxes of chocolates and revellers applied temporary Christmas tattoos and painted their faces.
Irish Catholic and new volunteer Sheila said this was her first time skipping Christmas Day mass, but she'd waited 35 years for an opportunity to contribute at Wayside.
"Just very gently, you've touched somebody in your life," she said.
She said Reverend Long was an inspiration to attendees.
"His simple words, his ordinary man approach, it does more to touch the soul than the whole (of) St Mary's Cathedral," she said.
Ken Sharpe, 80, in a cork hat bedecked with bells and kangaroos, said he thought the party was "a damn good idea".
"Look around - the feeling. As the daughter says, she hugs and kisses people that another time you'd cross the street to get away from," he told AAP.
"People should do good things for other people and they don't need religion as a crutch, they should just do it."
Reverend Long agreed: "This is very street, you know. We try to keep the bullshit to a minimum."
Meanwhile, thousands of worshippers attended church services across the state.
It was standing room only at St Mary's Cathedral for the morning service led by the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell.
In his homily, Cardinal Pell said the birth of Jesus contained a message "that produces love and goodness".
"This baby did grow up to redeem us by his life, death and resurrection," he said.
Outside church, one worshipper, Sean, said the service was a chance to connect with his family's past.
"My father has always come, my grandfather has always come, and my son has decided he wants to come - it goes back generations," he said.
Sydney's St Andrew's Cathedral hosted a Lord's supper on Tuesday morning, followed by services through the day, including an address by Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen.
In his annual Christmas message released earlier, he said Christmas was a time to fix feuds and forgive.
And in Melbourne's federation square, celebrating the jolly season with others has been a welcome reprieve for self-proclaimed Christmas refugee Claudia Kaster.
Ms Kaster was one of hundreds of students, migrants and families that filled the square for the orphan's Christmas picnic, that provided companionship for those on their own on Christmas.
For Ms Kaster who lost her partner two years ago, travelling to sunny Melbourne was a way of escaping the gloom of home alone and enjoy Christmas with friends.
"I have nothing at home...I love to be outside, at home it's not nice," she said.
"It's really great for people to come together for probably they (can't) have a traditional Christmas and now they can meet people from all over the world and the city."
Organiser Joe Norster said the picnic, which sees the square adorned with 250 plastic pines, was about making sure no-one was alone at Christmas.
"(It's about creating) a shared space, a sense of community, those terms can be worn out in seasons like this, (as well as) companionship really especially if someone is alone on Christmas."
The picnic is a free event and features games and entertainment, as well as deck chairs and sun umbrellas for visitors.
