Just before 10am on February 19, 1942, a formation of 188 Japanese aircraft descended on Darwin in the first of two raids that day.
Allied aircraft mounted a counterattack and anti-aircraft gunners fought to protect the city and the harbour.
More than 230 people were killed and hundreds wounded on the first day while 30 aircraft were destroyed, 11 ships sunk and civilian and military facilities damaged.
Hundreds of veterans, descendants and members of the public gathered in the Northern Territory capital on Saturday morning to mark eight decades since the World War II bombing, in a ceremony at Darwin's Cenotaph.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner, Australian Governor-General David Hurley and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese are among dignitaries and politicians attending.
At 9.58am local time, sirens blared as those gathered paused in tribute to the lives lost in the attack, marking the exact time the air raid sirens first began 80 years ago.
Sirens and gunfire could be heard as a re-enactment played out, with armed soldiers running to cannons which shot out clouds of red smoke as military aircraft flew above.
The service is being live-streamed by the City of Darwin for the first time.
One of the last surviving veterans, Brian Winspear, vividly recalls when the first bombs fell from the Darwin sky "just like confetti".
He was attached at the time to the RAAF's No.2 Squadron as a wireless air gunner flying in Lockheed Hudson light bombers.
The 101-year-old, who is attending Saturday's memorial, received shell splinters in his hand and eye during the raid as "bombs landed all around us".
"We were in a trench about 50 yards from the aerodrome and you could see the Japanese in their cockpits," he said in a video.
"I looked up and the sun glinted on the bombs as they were falling, and it was just like confetti."
Descendants of Darwin's Larrakia people are also attending Saturday's ceremony to acknowledge how Indigenous and non-Indigenous worked side-by-side to contribute to the war effort.
Elder Christine Fejo-King says the bombing traumatised the Indigenous community.
Her grandfathers, Juma Fejo and his brother Samuel, were in active service at Darwin Harbour, Juma a cook and Samuel a gunner on the wharf.
"For the people who were here during the attacks on Darwin, it didn't matter who they were or what their background was, they were all connected - by death, fear and hope, and their descendants are still connected today," she said.
As part of Saturday's commemorations, a remembrance and reconciliation event will be held on the esplanade with the descendants of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal service personnel sharing stories.
A message of apology from a Japanese man from Himeji to a Larrakia Traditional Owner will also be read.
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