That was the message passed on by Royal Australian Navy Captain Peter Mingay, who delivered the commemorative address to several thousand people amassed in Robertson Park who had assembled after lining the sides of Summer Street five deep for the earlier march.

Every school in the district had students marching down the main street alongside servicemen and women.

VIDEO: The Main Service at Robertson Park ...

They then funnelled into Robertson Park to watch a stirring ceremony, punctuated with hymns and music from Orange High School students.

"We pause and remember those who have served our country in war and peace," Capt Minglay said.

"This year marks the first year since the centenary of Anzacs, the four years in which we focused our commemorations on the experiences of our first Anzacs."

Capt Minglay spoke about the very first commemorations of the Gallipoli landings, and said while 100 years on "we can't appreciate the release and grief out ancestors felt" in 1916 "we can still take pride in the work our defence force continues to make on the world stage".

Organisations - with military connections and without - laid wreaths at the Cenotaph, as did all the schools.

Lance-corporal Aaron Willis, of unit 119 Bravo company, was the Cenotaph commander in charge of the on-duty soldiers around the monument.

VIDEO: The CWD's live video of the march ...

The Orange-born corporal is a third-generation soldier, and said it was a "big honour" to serve his country overseas on peacekeeping deployments to East Timor and the Solomon Islands.

It was his first time taking charge of the Cenotaph, closing a 10-year circle after he first stood on duty there in 2009.

"I have done it before in Canowindra, but Orange is my home, I've grown up here and I was proud to do it in my home town," he said.

"It's very moving being up there."

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old."

The crowd stretched far back into the darkness of Robertson Park for the Anzac Day dawn service of 2019 as the flames of the eternal soldier leapt across RSL senior vice-president Chris Colvin's face as he read the Ode.

The same flames danced along the faces of everyone speaking on Thursday morning, including singer Isabella Kane, who performed a hymn and the Australian national anthem in front of roughly 1000 people attending the ceremony at Robertson Park.

It was her second year performing at the dawn service, but said the awe of the occasion wasn't lost on her.

VIDEO: Thursday's Dawn Service in Robertson Park ...

"I do cadets for school so Anzac Day has always been a really big deal for me, even just attending it, so it's a huge honour to be able to sing," she said.

The year 10 student at Orange Anglican Grammar School said watching the front row of the audience - the only row she could see in the pre-dawn darkness - to see those who've marched from the Ex-Services' Club to the cenotaph.

While she said the hymns were special, it was the national anthem which was the powerful parts of the ceremony for her.

"I sang the New Zealand national anthem last year and one family burst out in tears and I went up and asked them why," she said.

"It was because their grandfather or great-grandfather from New Zealand had fought in the war, and every year at the Anzac Day service they find the New Zealand anthem was the biggest deal for them.

"It was a bit of a reality check, I'd never met someone who knew someone who'd gone through that - my family was lucky enough that as they were all farmers, they didn't have to go through that."

She said alongside the reality check, being asked to perform was a "huge honour", albeit a "terrifying" one.

"I prefer the Dawn Service because I can't see people's faces but you still see the crowd and it's really nerve-wracking, but once I start singing it's good," she said.

Some of the faces in the darkness belonged to Wayne Duff and his family.

Mr Duff said he and his family - Denise and children Molly and Sophie - come every year to "show respect" to those who served.

His brother served in an army attachment with the navy in peacekeeping missions, but he attended for everyone who's served.

"It's special, it's respectful and always good," he said, with his children set to march later in the day.

Nick Kingsley-Miller was another member of the crowd, wearing his grandfather's medals earned fighting in Papua New Guinea in World War II.

He said he was proud of his family and proud of the day for bringing everyone together.