Recap our live coverage of the opening ceremony of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, kicking off 12 days of live action. TVNZ has the exclusive TV and online rights and you can watch tonight's opening ceremony LIVE right here. Please refresh your browser for the latest updates below.
12.30am: With the stunning voice of Delta Goodrem ringing in my ears, here ends 1 NEWS NOW's live coverage of the Gold Coast 2018 opening ceremony. Thanks for reading. Plenty more to come over the next 12 days.
12.26am: And with a bang, the games are now open. Thanks Charles.
Here's Tonga's entry into the stadium, led by boxer Magan Maka.
12.25am: After some mild technical difficulties, a message is taken from the baton and passed to Prince Charles, who delivers some words on behalf of his mother. She placed the note in the baton when it originally left Buckingham Palace.
12.20am: Top banter from the ACC boys, who are hosting the ceremony on Duke.
12.15am: The baton is in the stadium and is now being taken around the track by Susie O'Neill, aka Madam Butterfly.
12.00am: I'm not sure about you, but I reckon having the Commonwealth flag coming out to the sounds of John Farnham's You're the Voice was just about perfect.
Here's the moment New Zealand entered the stadium.
11.55pm: I think Sophie Pascoe was pretty happy.
11.50pm: All the countries are in, time for a traditional smoking ceremony before more formalities.
The Kiwi flagbearer couldn't hide her joy as she shared the raw emotion of the moment in a live Facebook interview.
11.45pm: 1 NEWS' Kimberlee Downs managed to chat with Sophie Pascoe just before she entered the stadium. Watch here.
11.36pm: Sorry, Australia's cheer was louder. Understandable..
11.31pm: Massive roar for New Zealand. Gone with the black jacket, and shorts combo.
11.30pm: Here are all the Pacific Island teams... the Cook Islands are in... NZ are close..
11.27pm: Sophie Pascoe's just done a wonderful impromptu interview with 1 NEWS' Kim Downs as she entered the stadium. Here it is....
11.20pm: It's the turn of the Caribbean, followed by the Pacific, which means it's nearly time for Sophie Pascoe to lead NZ in.
11.15pm: Those Wales shirts (on the right).
11.10pm: Have to admire the surf lifesavers cheering on the teams as they walk past. They are getting some workout.
11pm: So far, it's a tie between Wales and Ghana for outfit of the opening. A long way to go before we hand out that prize though.
10.50am: Gotta say, who every chose the music did well. Some bangers - Kylie and INXS.
10.45pm: Now, it's time for the Parade of Nations. The first country out will be Scotland, in honour of Glasgow hosting the 2014 Games. THe teams will come out based on region. Europe first.
10.37pm: The Queens Baton is getting closer, just down the road at Surfers Paradise. As befitting the locale, the stadium has taken on a beachy theme. Shame the weather isn't matching!
10.31pm: The Australian anthem is now being sung. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is standing alongside Prince Charles and Camilla. The anthem has had some additional verses added to it welcoming the visitors. The Australian flag along with the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander flags are raised together after the anthem.
10.28pm: Prince Charles and Dutchess of Cornwall Camilla are on the stage as a speaker welcomes the athletes and fans. Patricia O'Connor a Yugambeh elder makes the official welcome to all visitors.
10.25pm: The dancers huddle in the middle of the stage and the stadium blacks out. In the middle of the stage a graphic of a bird illuminates and flies away.
10.24pm: The dancers form three circles as they continue to perform their traditional dance with Aboriginal song and chants is played in the background.
10.16pm: Aboriginal dancers perform a ritual symbolising the passing of knowledge and their culture at centre stage wearing traditional attire.
10.14pm: Dancers on the stage have lights in their hands and form a star fish as Didgeridoos are played in the background by musicians Aussie singer Christine Anu sings, "My Island home." She is accompanied by an Aussie rapper.
10.09pm: Pangaea - the name of the land mass at the beginning of time before it all seperated into continents is highlighted at the centre of the stage with dancers dressed in white huddled at the middle of it. The graphic in the middle of the stage shows Pangaea seperate into different contients of the world. As the dancers splits and run off stage.
10.06pm: Pyrotechnics go off and the stage in Carrara is lit up now and shows a picture of planet Earth.
10.01pm: And the 2018 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony is underway! A short video is played on the big screen of Aussie surfer's welcoming the athletes and fans to the 21st Commonwealth Games. The camera zooms out and shows an aerial shot of the Earth and continues to zoom out and shows a wide shot of the universe and planets in the Solar System.
9.55pm: We are just moments away from the opening ceremony beginning. And it has now just started bucketing down with rain - but it is still fairly warm in the Gold Coast.
9.40pm: Just 20 minutes until we're underway, and there's a nice buzz going around the stadium. Carrara is normally the home of the Gold Coast Suns. That's AFL, for us Kiwis who don't follow that particular code.
9.30pm: Over a billion people are expected to watch this ceremony. It's the fifth games to be held in Australia.
9.20pm: For those watching on TV or online, as well as following the blog, Peter Williams and Jenny-May Clarkson are running through their final checks before bringing you their expert comments.
9.10pm: Carrara Stadium is filling up nicely, and the crowd is being entertained by some lively tunes. There was a fair old downpour around 30 minutes ago. Let's hope that's it for the rain.
8.55pm: For those who have been asking, tomorrow's live coverage gets underway on TVNZ 1 from 10am and concludes at approximately 1am Friday morning - around 13 hours of virtually uninterrupted coverage. That will be the pattern throughout the next 11 days. Here's tomorrow's detailed schedule.
8.45pm: Hi everyone, welcome to our live updates. 1 NEWS' Josh Reich with you here from inside Carrara Stadium, where New Zealand's athletes have arrived ahead of the 10pm start tonight (NZT).
Of course led out tonight by Sophie Pascoe, who actually struggled to contain her emotions on receiving the honour last night, telling those gathered what it meant to her to be recognised as a member of the full team, not just as as a para-athlete. If you missed it, here's how it happened last night.
And her parents were totally blown away last night, after being lured to the announcement, never suspecting their daughter was going to be the one chosen.
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