Thousands of Collingwood and Brisbane Lions fans converged on Melbourne as the AFL grand final parade made its way through the city's sporting precinct ahead of tomorrow's big game.

This year's parade, which lasted about two hours, was longer than usual and began at Melbourne Park.

A motorcade of utes featuring coaches and players from the prospective premiership teams journeyed up Batman Avenue, through Birrarung Marr and over the William Barak Bridge to Yarra Park where the AFL hosted a free Footy Festival for fans.

This year, the parade returned to to dry land after supporters complained last year that they could not get close enough to the players as they travelled on the Yarra River in boats.

If the Lions win, it will be their first premiership since 2004, while for the Pies, the first since 2010.

It has been 20 years since Collingwood and Brisbane faced each other in a grand final.

Both teams had a final training session this morning ahead of tomorrow's match.

Public Transport Victoria has set up extra train services to stations including Jolimont, Richmond and Flinders Street to cater to the extra fans travelling into and out of the city.

Scam warning as desperate fans duped

Collingwood fan Manon Rogotowicz managed to secure a ticket to the big game, but lost out to a scammer along the way.

"I was really desperate for a ticket, got talking to this guy [online]. He made me think it was real, showed me his Ticketek account, tax office account," he said.

"I was so desperate, transferred the money straightaway. He said I'd get it in 24 to 48 hours but no, nothing, and then he blocked me."

Mr Rogotowicz had paid $500. After he realised he had been scammed, his father managed to secure him a level-four ticket elsewhere.

"People should be careful," he said.

Diehard fans also braved the cold, camping out overnight on Thursday evening for one final chance at securing tickets to Saturday's grand final.

Peter Whitfield, who describes himself as a Collingwood tragic, had been in line from about 1:30pm the day before.  

"We spent the night. We cooked some dinner out in the park. It was almost like camping," he said.

Swaddled up in a sleeping bag, with a jacket and scarf, he's no stranger to the desperate fight for the best seats in the house. 

"I've slept out here quite a bit. I wanted to get the Pies tickets to go down the front [for the] preliminary final and also some other games that were really well patronised," he said. 

Also in the queue was Daniel Kilfoy and his three children, a family clearly divided along club lines.

"The first child we had, I said Brisbane and the second child [their] mum said Collingwood," he said. 

"It's been a long time coming. It's another repeat of 2003 ... we're all up and about."

One woman had flown from the Gold Coast to brave the cold while another, said she queued up every year. 

"It's like Christmas every year, it's beautiful," she said. 

Warm spring spell to deliver fine grand final weather

Tomorrow's grand final will be the fifth ever to be played in Melbourne in temperatures exceeding 26 degrees Celsius.