Anzac Day Dawn Service tickets: 1400 spots snapped up on day of release

There’s been a swift response to the release of tickets for this year’s Anzac Day Dawn Service with all snapped up the same day.

Tickets for Melbourne’s Anzac Day Dawn Service have been exhausted on the day of their release.

Just 1400 places were on Thursday at 11am made available.

The Shrine of Remembrance website showed “no availability” for tickets as at 8.40pm.

They were offered on a first come, first served basis.

The coronavirus pandemic had prompted the cap on the crowd at this year’s event.

Those who secured a spot were allocated one of three entry points — St Kilda Road, Birdwood Avenue and city-side — to make access easier and avoid crowd bottlenecks.

Tickets were free but limited to two people for each booking.

Just 1400 tickets were released for this year’s scaled-down Dawn Service. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The service will be livestreamed online from 5.40am.

Victorians were also encouraged to stand in their driveways for a minute’s silence as part of the Light Up the Dawn initiative.

Numbers for the Anzac Day parade meanwhile had improved after the Herald Sun this week revealed veterans were steering clear of the event.

More than 1000 marchers had now registered but this was still well below the 5000 veterans allowed to take part.

RSL Victoria chief executive officer Jamie Twidale had said some veterans were reluctant to take part because they had to register under COVIDSafe protocols.

But he stressed they shouldn’t let frustrations deter them.