''I was fine until you mentioned it.''

Some pre-show nerves are starting to settle on the ACT finalists in the Australian of the Year Awards to be announced in Canberra on Saturday.

The ACT's Australian of the Year finalist, neonatal specialist Zsuzsoka Kecskes; Senior Australian of the Year nominee veterans' campaigner Graham Walker; Australia's Local Hero contender disability champion Trish Mowbray and Young Australian of the Year finalist Mr Nguyen, will be in the national spotlight as their efforts are championed.

The awards will be televised between 6pm and 7pm on ABC1, hosted by Stephanie Brantz, in front of a crowd of thousands.

But the ACT representatives, despite their combined achievements, are thinking less about themselves and more about their fellow finalists.

'''Every single bio you read, you think, 'Oh my god, I want to meet these people','' Dr Kecskes said. ''Because they do such great things, often against great odds and hurdles because they're driven and that's their passion. I think there will be a lot of passion in the room.''

Mrs Mowbray, who with her husband Glenn, adopted four children with special needs after discovering they could not have children biologically, says the phone calls and good wishes have been flowing since her accolade was announced. ''It's been lovely but life at home goes on, the madness,'' she said, with a laugh.

The Macquarie mother, who is a disability projects officer with the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, hoped her story would inspire others.

''I'd really like to see mums with children with disabilities empowered through this,'' she said.

Betting agency Ladbrokes has put Dr Kecskes, clinical director of the neonatology department at the Canberra Hospital, as one of the frontrunners for the national award. She helped design the neonatal intensive care unit at The New Hospital for Women and Children, including the use of a web-based service that enables parents to watch their babies when away from the hospital.

She hopes to use the attention to push for a more responsive, patient-involved health system generally.

''I'm much more comfortable being in the background, so this is really odd I must say and takes a bit of getting used to,'' she said. ''But I think the reason why I'm doing this is to facilitate change.''

Mr Walker, a veteran of the Indonesian Confrontation and the Vietnam War, was nominated for his volunteer work with the Vietnam Veterans Federation of Australia.

The 74-year-old from Curtin has worked tirelessly to ensure veterans receive their entitlements while ensuring the story of Vietnam veterans is faithfully recorded.

''I know what it's like to come home after the war and the problems you can have,'' he said. ''Really, I'm representing hundreds of volunteer war veterans who do this work, to try to ease the homecoming of future veterans.''

Mr Nguyen, 29, the son of a Vietnamese boat person, contracted polio while in Vietnam at the age of 18 months. His father, after arriving by boat, brought his mother, younger brother and himself to Australia in 1991. He went to St Anthony's Primary School, St Mary MacKillop College and the Australian National University. He has devoted himself to making life easier for people with disabilities, including those in the Solomon Islands and East Timor. With all the headlines about asylum seekers arriving by boat, he cannot but help contemplate his father's experience and how that journey ultimately led himself to Parliament House and the appreciation of a nation. ''I suppose the best I can do is tell my story and show how positive it has been,'' he said.

■ The Australia Celebrates Live event on the lawns of Parliament House starts at 5pm on Saturday with a tribute to the outgoing Australians of the Year followed by the 2014 Australian of the Year Awards. A concert featuring Havana Brown, Matt Corby, Lior and Megan Washington is due to start at 7pm. Gates open at 3pm.