Royal visit Australia as it happened: King Charles and Queen Camilla greet crowds at Sydney Opera House

It was a busy day for King Charles and Queen Camilla on their final day of royal duties before they jet out of Sydney tomorrow.

That’s it for our live coverage – thanks for keeping us company as we follow Charles and Camilla across the city.

In case you missed it, here’s what the King and Queen got up to in Sydney today:

• The King and Queen started the morning at separate engagements – the King visited the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence and a Homes NSW project in Glebe.
• Queen Camilla visited Refettorio OzHarvest, where she was gifted a silver teaspoon and met Caesar the parrot, a local character in Surry Hills.
• Queen Camilla met with author and father of the Australian Republican Movement Thomas Keneally at Green Square Library, who described her as “lovely”.
• The King and Queen had a turn cooking a sausage sizzle at a community barbecue in Parramatta, where the King paid tribute to the high quality of Australian cuisine.
• The King met Australians of the Year professors Georgina Long and Richard Scolyer at the Melanoma Institute.
• Finally, their majesties delighted an estimated 10,000 royal fans at the Sydney Opera House, before embarking on a navy fleet review in the harbour.
• The pair will fly out of Sydney at about 11am tomorrow, travelling to Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of King Charles and Queen Camilla’s royal tour.

Our photographers and journalists are on the ground, capturing and reporting on every moment of the tour, which is taking place in Sydney today.

Here’s a brief look at what’s on today’s royal schedule:

• King Charles will visit the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in Redfern. We’re expecting that to begin about 10.50am.
• Queen Camilla will meet with OzHarvest staff at Refettorio, their Surry Hills restaurant, about 10.45am.
• Camilla will then head to Green Square Library to meet authors and students at a writing workshop. This should begin about 11.30am.
• Meanwhile, Charles will visit the Homes NSW Cowper Street project with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Chris Minns to talk about sustainable housing. That should begin about 11.40am.
• The King and Queen will join Minns again at an invitation-only community barbecue in Parramatta Park at 12.30pm.
• The King will then attend an event with the Governor-General at Admiralty House from 2.30pm.
• King Charles and the prime minister will meet with Australian of the Year recipients, professors Georgina Long and Richard Scolyer, at the Melanoma Institute about 3.40pm.
• The public will get a chance to meet the King and Queen at Sydney Opera House at 4.20pm.
• Finally, the King and Queen will embark on a Navy fleet review at 4.50pm.

Check out this amazing video shot by reporter Julie Power.

She spoke to royal fans Margaret Cheah from Winston Hills and her friend Judy Scott of North Carlingford, who have travelled around the world to support the royals at William and Kate’s wedding, the diamond jubilee, and Harry and Meghan’s wedding.

Today they were waiting for hours in the sun to see the King.

After waiting patiently, standing at attention for an hour, primary school children are finally letting loose. They’re dancing to lyrics urging them to “follow their dreams”.

After meeting scores of loyal royal fans – the Queen stopped to admire a very cute baby in the crowd – the King and Queen are now moving onto the Navy fleet review portion of the visit.

English actress Joanna Lumley, of Absolutely Fabulously fame, was one of the first to greet the King and Queen as they made their long-awaited visit to the Sydney Opera House.

The King and Queen walked up the steps of the Opera House before meeting with a selected group of VIPs, including Lumley, before waving to the thousands waiting on the forecourt below.

King Charles and Queen Camilla posed for photographs with the Harbour Bridge in the background as a helicopter flew above with an Australian flag.

Around an hour out from the King and Queen’s appearance and security is ramping up outside the Opera House.

A sniper is in place on top of one of the building’s sails, keeping an eagle eye on the crowd from above.

The queue for the security screening is long but moving fast. Attendees and their bags are being ushered through X-ray scanners.