A decade of planning will be tested this week when the eyes of 1.5 billion people around the world focus on Melbourne for what is billed as the greatest Commonwealth Games in the history of the event.

More than 4,500 athletes from 71 nations are primed for the Games which starts on Wednesday night with an opening ceremony attended by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Games chairman Ron Walker says Australia will be on parade and host city Melbourne has never looked better.

"I defy you to find a cigarette butt in the street," Mr Walker said.

Victoria's Commonwealth Games Minister Justin Madden said Melbourne was "absolutely bursting with excitement".

"We've got record number of attendances ... in terms of ticket sales and we've got the best and biggest venues in the world," Mr Madden said.

"We have not only of course the world's best athletes here, but we also have some of the world's best performers. We have a festival, Melbourne 2006, that will complement the Commonwealth Games."

Over the next 12 days of ceremony and competition, Melbourne and regional Victoria will host 6,000 athletes and officials from nations representing one-third of the world's population.

The athletes will compete for glory in 16 sports, with basketball appearing on the official program for the first time.

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks confirmed the state government had pumped more than $600 million into the Games, but the event would result in more than $3 billion coming into the state's economy and it had created 14,000 jobs.

"If we had put on a Games which didn't showcase our state and our city to the rest of the world effectively, we would have been roundly criticised," Mr Bracks told reporters.

Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon said the Games were the greatest public manifestation of the Commonwealth of nations itself.

"Whether it is Scotland, or Wales, or the Cook Islands, Norfolk Island ... they can all be separate when it comes to the Commonwealth Games."

Victoria Police is leading the largest and most expensive security operation ever seen in Australia to protect the Games.

The state's 15,000 police will be backed up by 2,500 military personnel, 5,000 private security guards, federal agents and the intelligence agencies.

Airport-style metal detectors and X-ray equipment will be used at all Games venues.

Police and venue management have new powers to search patrons and compel them to empty bags and remove jackets and other clothing.

Military personnel will examine vehicles in and around venues and exclusion zones have been established.

Black Hawk helicopters, fighter jets and naval ships will patrol Melbourne's skies during the event.

"We have planned for a security level for these Games of medium, which is in fact the level the country is at and has been since September 11, 2001," Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said.

"So, our level of security in general is still at that.

"The Queen will arrive tomorrow and certainly for her there is a very high level of security."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will also be among those attending the Games.

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