The steps of Victoria's parliament took on the colours of the rainbow as hundreds gathered to call for a free vote on marriage equality.
The vocal crowd, which included young and old from all walks of life, cheered and held signs supporting same sex marriage on Saturday afternoon.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten challenged Prime Minister Tony Abbott to allow his MPs a free vote on the issue, saying he would withdraw his bill if the government wanted to be the one to sign it off.
"If you want your name on the piece of paper, that's fine - we just want everyone else to be able to put their names on a piece of paper too," Mr Shorten told the rally.
His private member's bill introduced to parliament this month replaces the words "man and woman" with the term "two people" to define who can legally be married.
Senator Penny Wong also spoke to the crowd, saying it was time for the Liberal and National parties to stand up in the equality debate.
She said it was disappointing that Australia had fallen behind every other English-speaking country.
And while change is not inevitable, Senator Wong says the marriage equality movement is "unstoppable".
A cross-party bill, similar to Mr Shorten's private member's bill, is expected to be introduced into parliament in August, but no decision has been made by the National or Liberal parties on whether their MPs will be able to vote freely on the issue.
Some, including Nationals MP Darren Chester, have broken ranks to announce their support for gay marriage.
Mr Abbott is facing mounting pressure from religious leaders and coalition MPs to resist pressure to legalise same-sex marriage.
The latest salvo was fired by 38 religious leaders representing major traditions who expressed their "grave concerns" in an open letter to the prime minister last week.
Some coalition MPs believe a change of policy by Mr Abbott could lead to an internal backlash against the leader, with Liberal National MP George Christensen saying the party membership would not like being ignored on their opposition to gay marriage.
Nationals deputy leader Barnaby Joyce has also said he does not believe marriage should be redefined.
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