Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews watched the state's new cancer centre get built from the window of his dying father's hospital room across the road.
He hopes the $1 billion Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre will mean fewer Victorians have to watch their loved ones die.
"My father (Bob) would have been 66 yesterday. He didn't get to see that birthday," Mr Andrews told reporters at the centre's opening on Sunday.
"Hopefully people just like him, and families just like ours, will be spared all those years, all those opportunities they won't be able to be part of ... because of breakthroughs that will be made here."
US Vice-President Joe Biden opened the VCCC on Sunday and said it would have a "profound" impact on the global fight against cancer.
"What you're doing here is profound, it has an impact in every corner of the world," he said.
The centre will treat 30,000 patients a year but also houses high-tech research labs designed to help scientists and doctors collaborate across disciplines.
The federal government put in $500 million for the VCCC and Health Minister Sussan Ley said it was an exciting development for cancer patients around the country.
She plans to speed up access to clinical trials for new cancer treatments, which Australians often don't get access to.
"We need to do more in getting that early access to those medicines that are in those early stages," Ms Ley said.
Patients, doctors and nurses moved last month into their new home at the VCCC, which includes 160 inpatient beds, 110 same-day beds, eight operating theatres, two procedure rooms and eight radiation therapy bunkers.
The VCCC will host up to 1200 cancer researchers, and a number of them will each year get the chance to travel to the United States on scholarships for further study.
The centre is inspired by the US comprehensive cancer centre model, where cutting edge patient services and research are brought together under one roof.
There are 45 comprehensive cancer centres in the US, and the VCCC is the first in Australia.
