Thousands of adoring fans have flocked to Sydney Olympic Park to see Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi give a speech during his first visit to Australia in almost ten years as both countries seek to build closer ties.
Homebush's Qudos Bank Arena was booked to its capacity of over 20,000 for Tuesday's night cultural event, with fans of the Indian leader flying in from across the country, including on a chartered flight from Melbourne.
"It's like an early Christmas and Diwali for us Indian diaspora in Australia," Sachin Dahiya, who organised the flight, said.
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According to Dahiya, the charter sold out in just two days.
Modi's appearance in Western Sydney is being attended by Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, before the two leaders hold their official bilateral meeting on Wednesday morning, when defence, trade, renewable energy and business is expected to be on the agenda.
The last time Modi came Down Under as prime minister was in 2014, when Australia's Indian population numbered about 400,000. Now, that number sits at 750,000.
Earlier on Tuesday, Modi met with a number of Australian influencers and celebrities, including singer Guy Sebastian.
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Modi's visit comes after the scheduled Quad meeting in Sydney this week of leaders from the US, Australia, Japan and India was cancelled when President Joe Biden pulled out to focus on American national debt issues.
Instead the Quad leaders met on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan on the weekend.
India is the world's largest democracy and is forecast to surpass China as the world's most populous nation.
The Indian economy is also set to become one of the world's biggest.
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Global security expert Greg Barton told Today this morning Modi's visit to Australia showed India was willing to engage with the world.
"In the past, it's often fallen back on being neutral for example buying arms from Russia, not taking sides and things like Ukraine.
"Now that's changing … Modi is recognising that India has to step up and be a global partner, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region."
Albanese said ahead of Modi's visit relations between Australia and India had never been closer.
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"Australia and India share a commitment to a stable, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Together we have an important role to play in supporting this vision.
"As friends and partners, the relationship between our countries has never been closer."
Modi last visited Australia in 2014.
In other news, Foreign Minister Penny Wong has indicated Albanese will not travel to China unless continued progress is made on the trade and consular front.
The last prime minister to visit Beijing was Malcolm Turnbull in 2016.
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