Ready for take off: Drones set for spectacular light show

It wasn't for a covert operation, but rather a dress rehearsal for this week's Flight: Drone SkyShow.

Taking flight from January 25 to 27, with a different show each night, Wednesday's test run was the first time all three performances had been played out in full.

Why did they fly after midnight? Partly to keep the story a surprise for the three-day event. But it's also because the airport closes at midnight, which means the airspace goes from a Class C airspace to a Class G airspace, making it easier to fly drones throughout testing.

And making sure everything ran to schedule and without a hitch was head of flight operations Sue Osborn.

"It's really beautiful. I think there's a lot of little key animation things that hopefully people pick up on," Ms Osborn said.

"And looking back where it is in the sky, there's no illuminated lights in the background. Sometimes when you do shows in the city, you always get the cityscape, but it's beautifully presented in the skyline.

"We've never flown in Canberra before so we didn't really know what electronic interference will be, and what other environmental factors.

"So we started with a select animation with only 24 drones. When that went smoothly, we set up a rectangle in the sky and flew the first 200, the second 200 and then the third 200. When I was satisfied with the site, we then loaded the animation and flew the entire animation with the 600 drones."

The stories presented in Flight: Drone SkyShow, in part, came from discussions with the National Capital Authority and a First Nations leader who advised on different elements that relate specifically to the Indigenous culture.

Most notable is the key character across all three nights, a wedgetail eagle called Maliyan. Known for seeing all, Maliyan will guide audiences across the three performances through a Welcome to Country and through significant moments in Australia's history.

From the ground, the animation - created by AGB Events - will flow seamlessly from one image to the next, thanks to the 600-drone system.

"You may not see all 600 lit up at the same time because some will be moving to the next frame so it's a seamless transition from one image to another," Ms Osborn said.

Flight: Drone SkyShow and night markets will be at Commonwealth Place on January 25, 26 and 27 from 5pm until 11pm. The drone show will be at 8.30pm, 9.30pm and 10.30pm each night. There will also be a second location, with food trucks at Regatta Point.

To register for updates for the free event go to Eventbrite. And to listen to the soundtrack, go to sky.art.