Indian Australians have booked charter buses, a "Modi Airways" plane and a sold-out arena in Sydney to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week.
Key points:
- Mr Modi's reception will feature three hours of performances
- There have been concerns about religious tension after a temple in Sydney was vandalised
- It's hoped Mr Modi will lay a foundation stone in Harris Park to honour Indian-Australian relations
The Indian leader will continue his trip to Australia, despite the cancellation of the Quad Leaders' Summit in Sydney on May 24.
More than 20,000 people are booked to attend a community reception at Sydney Olympic Park the evening before what would have been the Quad meeting.
Indian Australian Diaspora Foundation spokesman Pranav Aggarwal said after initial nerves on Wednesday, plans were going ahead for the visit.
"It is a rare moment. The excitement really knows no bounds," Mr Aggarwal said.
"There have been over 20,000 tickets which have been given out and really our colleagues have been buzzing."
The reception will feature three hours of performances, and organisers are expecting a speech from Mr Modi himself.
The Indian Australian Diaspora Foundation has organised a charter plane, "Modi Airways", to fly keen Modi fans from Melbourne to Sydney for the event.
Another 30 Indian Australians in Brisbane are taking the "Modi Express" overnight bus to Sydney.
There have been concerns about religious tension in the lead up to the visit, with a Hindu temple in western Sydney's Rosehill graffitied with the words "Declare Modi Terrorist" earlier this month.
Similar attacks have been linked to a Sikh separatist group, but the Australian Sikh Association has been quick to condemn the perpetrator of the Rosehill attack as a "thug".
Mr Aggarwal said it was "with deep sorrow and regret" that the community had seen vandalism at sacred temples, but the majority of Indians were supportive of the event.
In the western Sydney suburb of Harris Park, also known as "Little India", shops are adorned with flags and balloons, in the hope Mr Modi will take time in his trip to visit.
"I've been inundated with inquiries that, 'we want to hear Modi, we want to see Modi'," said Sanjay Deshwal, president of the Little India Harris Park Business Association.
He credits Mr Modi for increasing the status of Indians around the world, and for the increase in relations between the two countries.
"Australian-Indian relations are at an all-time high," he said.
"Australia and India always existed to each other for cricket, curries and cinema. But for the first time, after the free trade agreement, politically we are so close."
Not all members of Australia's Indian diaspora are pleased with the prime minister's upcoming visit, as some consider Mr Modi a divisive figure.
Criticisms of Modi centre around his particularly strident form of Hindu nationalism — or Hindutva — which has been condemned for fuelling ethnic tensions, particularly with Muslim groups.
Debate over a proposed independent Sikh state — dubbed "Khalistan" — in India's north has also raised tensions within the Indian diaspora.
The Indian prime minister's last visit to Australia coincided with the G7 summit in 2014.
He received a rockstar reception at Sydney Olympic Park, and took the stage with one of India's favourite Australians, former cricketer Brett Lee.
Meanwhile, plans for Joe Biden's visit to Sydney have been derailed by the president's decision to cut short his trip, skipping Australia.
Tonnes of gear, Secret Service motorcade cars and the Marine One helicopter which arrived at Sydney Airport on Globemaster C17s will need to be packed up again and sent back to the US.
Mr Biden's planned movements in Sydney were kept under wraps.
Supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, including his father John Shipton, had planned a rally in Hyde Park for the president's visit, in support of his release from jail.