Journalist Peter Greste awarded Anzac Day honour

Journalist Peter Greste has been awarded the Anzac Day Peace Prize at a ceremony in Brisbane.

Mr Greste was detained for 400 days in a Cairo prison while working as an Al Jazeera correspondent covering unrest in Egypt, sparking international outcry before his release in February last year.

The RSL award is given to people who promote the concept of international understanding and make a contribution to world peace.

More than 25,000 people are expected to gather for Queensland's major Anzac Day dawn service in Brisbane to mark the 101st anniversary of the Gallipoli landing.

Organisers are optimistic last year's centenary - which packed out blocks of the CBD - will flow on as younger generations maintain their interest in commemorating Anzac Day.

The Brisbane service is the state's largest but attendance more than doubled last year with well over 30,000 trying to cram in, around and beyond Anzac Square before 4.28am

This year is also the 100th year for the Anzac Day Commemoration Committee, central to the day's events, which was established at a public meeting in Bowen Hills in January 1916.

"Queenslanders generally aren't aware that the Anzac Day tradition has its roots right here in Brisbane," CEO Hedley Lockyer said.

"It may not have happened in any other state in Australia, or any other country for that matter, had it not been for that public meeting."

The dawn service at Currumbin Beach, on the Gold Coast, has also been growing in popularity and is now one of Australia's largest regional events.

An art project organised by the Currumbin RSL at the Rock of Remembrance has seen a net of about 5000 plastic poppies laid over the landmark.

Independent Queensland shops will not be able to trade until 1pm, but food and grocery stores can open earlier.