Brought out by a combination perhaps of great atmosphere, great weather, and great snags on the BBQ, the parade is a riot of colour. It may, in fact, be better than previous years.

Fans, young and old dressed in West Coast and Hawks colours, have packed Wellington Parade to capacity. Even fans from other clubs have seized the holiday as a chance to watch the parade.

But it is the Eagles fans who are dominating the crowd, their numbers swelled by a marketing officer's oversight that has left Hawks players parading in blue and yellow shirts, which are, of course, the Eagles' colours.

Ellen and Neil Stephen met friend Bill Boucher outside the clocks on the corner of Flinders and Swanston streets.

The mad Eagles fans had already packed their trailer for the drive to Melbourne before the Eagles' preliminary final win last weekend.

"When we were down at half time I was thinking, 'oh no, we're already packed'," laughed Mrs Stephen.

The pair did not even know whether they had been successful in getting grand final tickets until Monday morning, by which time they were already hundreds of miles down the road towards Melbourne.

Despite enjoying the fine weather, Mrs Stephen said she was no fan of the public holiday.

"You used to have city workers leaning out of windows, cheering the parade. Now that's gone," she said.

Mr Boucher thought he'd found the best spot to watch the parade, leaning on a fence on the corner outside Flinders Street Station.

His friends had to inform him that the parade route had changed this year and was starting at the Treasury Gardens. Mr Boucher just shook his head in response.

However, other West Coast supporters Sue Vandoorn, Scott Wilson and Steve Vandoorn from Perth said they were "loving" the atmosphere around Melbourne.

They believe the grand final eve public holiday should be a national holiday.

"A national public holiday would be good, but it doesn't affect us we are here anyway and off to the parade now, then the game tomorrow," Mr Wilson said.

But retail worker Siri Murphy questioned the need for a grand final eve public holiday.

"The game is on Saturday, it shouldn't be a public holiday, it hurts small business owners," the worker from Deans Souvenirs Australiana said.

Although many small traders and cafes had closed their doors for the day, souvenir shops were busy selling footy memorabilia, she said.

Nigel and Heather are attending the parade for the first time - they wouldn't have been able to come without the public holiday which Nigel "loves".

Heather is a hawks fan, but Nigel is proudly wearing his Tigers cap.

"What else would you wear?", he asks.

Sandra and Dianne Price are wrapped in their Fremantle purples. The sisters booked a grand final package back in August, only for the Dockers to miss out at the last hurdle.

Still, they're in good spirits, and they've even picked up West coast scarves.

"Some Freo supporters hate West Coast, but really, we're all from Western Australia" says Sandra.

This is her second grand final parade in a row, after she booked a package last year - when the Dockers again missed out.

"Eventually they'll make it", she says.

West Coast Eagle Sharrod Wellingham's sister, Katja Guozdenovic was part of that crowd, coming across from Perth for the event.

Holding a massive sign reading: "The west is ours the east will be too," Katja and her friends, Ryan Torabi, Ali Essfahani and Payum Hadian, all believe that the public holiday is a "great thing", which has made their travels easier.