Pro-Tibetan protesters beamed laser signs onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge last night as the Olympic torch arrived in Australia under tight security.
Thousands of pro-Tibet supporters have promised to hold a peaceful rally during tomorrow's torch relay in Canberra, but thousands of Chinese students were also expected to rally to support China.
Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates with China's Ambassador to Australia Zhang Junsai during the Olympic flame welcome ceremony at Fairburn air force base in Canberra
A group of Tibetans who were on a hunger strike continued their march to Canberra to rally against the torch as it landed at an airforce base in the capital under security usually afforded visiting world leaders.
Media reports said the Chinese embassy had hired 20 buses to bring supporters from Sydney and the southern city of Melbourne, an eight-hour drive from Canberra, to counter protesters.
"We're in a democratic country. If people want to protest, that's a matter for them, as long as they do it peacefully," International Olympic spokesman Kevin Gosper said after watching the Olympic torch arrive.
Hundreds of extra police have been called in to protect the torch, which will be carried through closed-off and barricaded streets tomorrow, with authorities determined to avoid the chaos that disrupted the relay in Europe and the United States.
China had hoped the torch's journey would be a symbol of unity in the run-up to the Beijing Games, but the torch has drawn anti-China protests over human rights and Beijing's crackdown in Tibet, as well as pro-China demonstrations.
Aborigine Bunja Smith, who presented Chinese torch officials in Canberra with a traditional wooden message stick inscribed with the word "Peace", said Australia's Aborigines had a long history of repression and understood the need for protest.