Former NRL star Terry Campese and retired Formula One driver Mark Webber are hoping their high profiles in the city will provide much-needed impetus for the free program.

But Campese, now captain-coach of the Queanbeyan Blues, freely admitted how difficult the task ahead was.

"So many blokes think they are bullet proof. But they're not," he said.

"Mark [Webber] and I are old mates and I'm really keen to lend my support; this is my city and my community and blokes need to get tested because it might just save their life."

When Webber, who is based in the UK, recently became a brand ambassador for prostate diagnosis innovators Maxwell Plus, he identified his home city of Queanbeyan as the perfect place for company to launch its biggest and most ambitious mass screening project.

Dr Elliott Smith, the company's co-founder, said the aim of this program was to take away as many of the roadblocks as possible that men often put up to avoid regular screening. And one of them was cost.

Enrolment in the program is free to all Queanbeyan-Palerang men aged between 40 and 70, which is the highest risk category for prostate cancer.

After participants fill out the online survey and access is given to their medical history, there may be an up-to-date blood test needed to determine each patient's most recent prostate specific antigen (PSA) number.

Each individual's data is then fed into a massive online database of 250,000 men. An artificial intelligence (AI) program then compares each patient's PSA result and family history of prostate cancer - which is another important marker - with those of thousands of others.

The result generated is a highly accurate risk profile, which clinicians at the company assess further and can offer advice on next steps. Urgently, if necessary.

For some men, like Torrens IT specialist Danny Hansen, the AI's diagnosis was a genuine life changer. Fit and well at 48 years old, he found out through the program that he was in trouble and needed urgent treatment.

He caught it just in time with surgery, and has now fully recovered.

The company has found its use of AI was diagnosing men five years younger than the average age of prostate cancer diagnosis, while at the same time reducing unnecessary biopsies by more than 50 per cent.

More than 3000 men die each year from prostate cancer, five million men are at risk, and one in six men will be diagnosed with the disease by the age of 85. If caught early, the survival rate is 98 per cent.

Dr Smith said that getting high profile people like Webber and Campese on board was important in "getting the conversation started".

"A lot of guys just need that nudge," he said.

"We want to normalise that conversation and get blokes asking each other if they've been tested. If you're in Queanbeyan, you just go online and it's free; we do the rest."

Eligible Queanbeyan men should visit maxwellplus.com/qb and follow the prompts to receive their assessment.

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