Malcolm Turnbull has praised Australian of the Year nominees as embodying "the best of the Australian spirit".
The prime minister and Lucy Turnbull hosted the nominees at The Lodge on Thursday, ahead of the announcement of the national winners at a Parliament House ceremony from 7.30pm.
"Each of you have shown courage and resilience, selflessness and sacrifice," Mr Turnbull said.
"Your achievements have been driven by great passion. For some of you, they've also been driven by great pain and you've turned that pain into great love for your fellow Australians.
"The diversity of your stories reflects the diversity of our nation."
Physics professor Michelle Yvonne Simmons is the NSW state winner and the favourite on betting markets.
Pioneering scientist Michelle Yvonne Simmons could be in line for Australia's top gong. Source: AAP
She leads a University of NSW team which is developing a silicon quantum computer able to solve problems in minutes that would otherwise take thousands of years.
Drug design, weather forecasting, self-driving cars and artificial intelligence are among the areas that could benefit.
Prof Simmons said it was important to encourage girls to pursue a career in science and technology.
"Seeing women in leadership roles and competing internationally is important. It gives them the sense that anything is possible," she told AAP.
Australian of the Year finalist Bo Remenyi received the NT's state award for her lifesaving work. Source: AAP
Four of the eight state and territory finalists have been recognised for addressing high rates of disadvantage among indigenous Australians.
Queensland NRL player Johnathan Thurston, Western Australian psychologist Tracy Westerman, Tasmanian theatre director Scott Rankin and clothing designer Dion Devow from Canberra have each received state awards.
Ms Westerman has trained 22,000 psychologists on how to reconcile mainstream psychology with Aboriginal culture.
"(Twenty years ago) as Aboriginal people, we were really invisible in a lot of training around psychology and mental health," she told AAP.
Part of her work has involved developing techniques to identify indigenous children in the early stages of suicide and mental illness risk.
Actor and cancer awareness campaigner Samuel Johnson received the Victorian award weeks after his sister Connie died from the disease that claims thousands of Australian lives every year.
Johnson founded the charity Love Your Sister and has pedalled at least 15,000km on a unicycle around the country to raise awareness and millions of dollars towards research.
He said if his sister saw all the fuss "she'd be pretty jealous".
"She'd remind me that I wouldn't be here without her," Johnson told AAP.
For two of this year's Australian of the Year nominees their life's work lives on in the hearts and smiling faces of thousands.
Paediatric cardiologist Bo Remenyi received the NT's state award for her lifesaving work in the early intervention, prevention and treatment of rheumatic heart disease in remote indigenous communities.
Meanwhile, more than 17,000 people across the world with facial deformities and disfigurements have had their bodies and consequently their lives repaired by craniofacial surgeon David David.
The nominees:
- Professor Michelle Yvonne (NSW)
- Johnathan Thurston (Queensland)
- Samuel Johnson OAM (Victoria)
- Professor David David AC (South Australia)
- Dr Tracy Westerman (Western Australia)
- Dion Devow (ACT)
- Dr Bo Remenyi (Northern Territory)
- Scott Rankin (Tasmania)
