Anzac poppies draw crowds to Albany beach

The work of countless volunteers is on display at Albany's Middleton Beach, where 30,000 plastic poppies have been placed in the sand to represent the first convoy of Anzac troops.

The red poppies took months to make, have drawn big crowds and will be removed at the end of the West Australian town's official centenary commemorations on Sunday.

On Saturday - 100 years to the day since the first Anzacs set sail from Albany, WA's oldest settlement - seven naval vessels from Australia, New Zealand and Japan passed through Ataturk Channel in WA.

The symbolic recreation was the culmination of the weekend's commemorations, which drew tens of thousands of visitors to the usually quiet town.

About 700 current and ex-servicemen took part in the departure, a march down the main street and a moving service where Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his New Zealand counterpart John Key laid wreaths to honour the 61,000 soldiers who never came home.