AFP / Patrick HAMILTON Australian athletes Craig Burns (L) and Luke Sullivan kiss after their marriage ceremony at Summergrove Estate, New South Wales on January 9, 2018

Sharing a kiss as fireworks lit up the night sky, two Australian athletes rushed to tie the knot just after midnight Tuesday, becoming one of the first gay unions in the country following historic marriage equality laws.

Commonwealth Games hopefuls Luke Sullivan, 23, and Craig Burns, 29, said "I do" shortly after the clock struck 12:00 am in rural New South Wales state -- their vows heralding a new chapter for same-sex couples in Australia.

Though the historic reforms were given royal assent on December 8, most couples have had to wait 30 days before exchanging vows, with only a handful wed last month after seeking exemptions.

"We feel very lucky that we get to be one of the first same-sex couples married in Australia," Craig Burns told AFP at the wedding reception in Carool, a picturesque country town close to the popular Gold Coast tourist spot.

"In the past... people couldn't vote, women couldn't vote, so it's like a progression of equality and people wanting acceptance across different backgrounds."

The happy couple are set to be joined by scores of others across the country after parliamentarians in December voted in favour on changing the Marriage Act.

The shift came after decades of political wrangling, and followed an emphatic nationwide voluntary postal vote in support of legalising same-sex marriage in late 2017.

Venues and vendors are now preparing for a rush of weddings, with the pink dollar tipped to generate Aus$650 million (US$510 million) in the first year if some of the nearly 50,000 same-sex couples tie the knot.

Burns' and Sullivan's Aus$50,000 wedding on the border with NSW and Queensland states was gifted to them by local businesses.

Australia had been seen to be lagging on marriage reform as a growing number of its international peers including the United States and Ireland legalised such unions.

Rob Burns, who was at the wedding reception with his wife Robyn to support their son Craig, said he was not surprised at the time it took for a "conservative country" such as Australia to embrace change.

"It was a real learning curve for us after Craig let us know that he was in fact gay, and now that we know, we wouldn't have him any other way," he told AFP.

"But at that time, it took a little while for us to get used to it because you didn't know, you didn't think about it... It's not going to be easy for everybody else to do it, so that's why it's taken Australia so long."

Gay marriage is now recognised in more than 20 countries, of which 16 are in Europe.