PARLIAMENT House will be the backdrop for the ACT's Australia Day eve celebrations, with Aussie rock icon Jimmy Barnes teaming up with electronic duo The Presets to shake up the national capital.
Thousands will gather on the lawns on Friday to watch the Australian of the Year awards ahead of the Australia Celebrates Live concert at 7.30pm (AEDT).
Cold Chisel frontman Barnes will headline the concert, alongside The Presets, Guy Sebastian and urban pop sensation Timomatic.
The Friday celebrations are a curtain raiser for Saturday's national flag raising and citizenship ceremony, where Australia's Federation Guard will raise the flag accompanied by a 21-gun salute and aerial flyover.
Australia's newest citizens will be welcomed to the community at the foot of Anzac Parade, on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, in a ceremony usually attended by the prime minister and governor-general.
Some 17,000 people from 145 different countries will become citizens in 430 ceremonies across Australia, with 99 people in the ACT set to become Aussies.
The lake will be the focus of festivities when a fireworks display synchronised with Australian music will light up the night.
National Australia Day Council chair Adam Gilchrist says it will be a day to recognise Australia's great attributes, reflect on the past and consciously contribute to a positive future.
"Once a year, we have an extraordinary opportunity as Australians to celebrate the good things we share, to reflect on the past - both the good and the bad - and most importantly, to recommit ourselves to a shared future," Mr Gilchrist said.
"Today, there are close to 23 million Australians, each with our own equally important story to tell.
"Some of us trace our legacy back to the traditional owners of this land while others are migrants - some from our colonial history and others are more recent migrants from around the world, but each and every one of us adds to the Australian story."
Nationally, more than six million people are expected to attend organised activities on Saturday.
Last year, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had to be rushed away from a Canberra restaurant by police after angry protesters from the nearby Aboriginal Tent Embassy surrounded the building on Australia Day.
The Chief Minister's Regatta in the western end of the lake, a Great Aussie Day Breakfast at Commonwealth Park and feature film and short drama screenings at the National Film and Sound Archive will also be held on Saturday.
On Sunday the Australian War Memorial will present a series of five classic films that present distinct versions of World War I to compliment its exhibition, Remember Me: The lost diggers of Vignacourt, and unique images of Australians on the Western Front.
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