Registrations for the 28 online community forums the memorial will host throughout March opened on Thursday with an additional two in-person sessions being held on March 18 and March 27.

A survey conducted in February by the memorial asked more than 4000 Australians about their interest in the gallery's contents along with how they would like to experience it.

The memorial's director Matt Anderson said the community consultation would further help the galleries be "representative, relevant, authentic and engaging" following the survey's results.

"The memorial will consult with a variety of communities on the development project to ensure we achieve outcomes in our new galleries that are at least equal to the highest standards we have set in our most recent galleries," Mr Anderson said.

"These 30 national public forums, six focus groups and five targeted advisory groups will all contribute to recognising our veterans and telling their stories in ways all Australians can understand and appreciate."

The war memorial expects the new galleries will focus more on recent conflicts the Australian Defence Force has been engaged in, including those in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

It follows the public release of the long-awaited Brereton report late last year, which detailed a number of alleged war crimes committed by Australian defence personnel in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2013.

Ahead of its release, Mr Anderson told a committee the memorial would aim to "tell the truth" with its new exhibitions but include the necessary context.

"40,000 women and men have served [in] Afghanistan since 2001 ... the vast majority of them have done a difficult job extraordinarily well," Mr Anderson said in November.

"I think the War Memorial's role in order to continue to be a place of trust is to tell the truth, but also to provide the context in which those stories occurred."

The survey showed around half of respondents had "strong interest" in the display of more difficult content, including moral conduct within war as well as PTSD, impacts on family and veteran suicide.

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The construction of the new galleries hasn't yet been approved and is awaiting final sign off by the National Capital Authority.

The authority is expected to undertake a review of the memorial's planned building designs, precinct landscaping in addition to further consultation with Canberra residents regarding project feedback.

The expansion project, which will see the 20-year-old Anzac Hall demolished to make way for larger exhibition space, received Parliamentary approval in late February following support from the public works committee.

But while Labor committee members David Smith and Tony Zappia said they supported the overall expansion, they asked the government to consider cutting costs and saving the hall.

"This high level of public interest is a clear reflection of the important place the AWM holds in the minds of many Australians," the dissenting report read.

"The AWM is a part of a much wider debate and discussion about these matters, and maintaining its ability to perform this role is an important cultural benefit to all Australians.

"Many of these views relate to the status of Anzac Hall, a building less than 20 years old and one that many submitters consider a work of great architecture."