Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's long awaited face-to-face meeting with US President Donald Trump will take place amid Manhattan street protests and traffic chaos.
Mr Turnbull and Mr Trump are expected to focus on North Korea and the Middle East in their Thursday afternoon bilateral meeting, but the storm cloud of the refugee deal that upset the president in their January phone call will hang over the two leaders.
Outside the protected walls of their five star hotel venue and rings of Secret Service and NYPD officers, numerous immigrant and other groups, including Rise and Resist, are aiming to disrupt Mr Trump's homecoming.
It is the president's first trip back to his home city since departing for Washington DC on January 19 for his inauguration.
Rally organisers are encouraging participants to bring pots and pans to bang in the hope Mr Trump will hear.
"We want to get as close as possible so they hear us inside," Nelini Stamp of the Working Families Party told the New York Times.
Mr Turnbull and his wife, Lucy, touched down in New York on Wednesday evening and received a multi-car NYPD escort to their Manhattan hotel.
Mr Trump will fly to New York from Washington on Thursday afternoon.
Mr Turnbull will also meet with Admiral Harry Harris, head of the US Pacific Command, and officials from the NYPD-FBI anti-terrorism task force on Thursday
After their bilateral meeting, Mr Turnbull and Mr Trump will deliver speeches on the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, the site of Thursday's 75th Anniversary Battle of the Coral Sea commemorative dinner.
Four Australian and three US veterans, aged in their 90s, who fought in the pivotal battle against the Japanese will attend.
Thousands of Trump protesters are expected to gather at nearby Dewitt Clinton Park.
The Battle of the Coral Sea event has generated a controversy with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, both staunch critics of Mr Trump, claiming they were not invited.
"That is inaccurate," John Berry, a former US Ambassador to Australia and president of event organiser, the American Australian Association, told NY1.
"The invitations were sent and we've been informed by their staff that neither are coming."
Manhattan visits by presidents and heads of state lead to road closures and traffic chaos.
The New York Daily News has prepped motorists with an article titled: "Here's what drivers should know about traffic nightmares when President Trump visits New York City".
NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill estimates Mr Trump's New York visit will cost the city $US300,000.
Mr Turnbull will depart New York for Australia on Friday.
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