Australia's most famous horse race is fast approaching, with Australians preparing to gather across the country to watch the Melbourne Cup.

The 24 horses and jockeys in this year's race have been finalised for "the race that stops the nation".

Here is everything you need to know ahead of the 2024 Melbourne Cup.

When is the Melbourne Cup?

The Melbourne Cup will be held at Flemington Racecourse on Tuesday, November 5.

What time does the Melbourne Cup start?

The Melbourne Cup will be the eighth race of the day held at Flemington.

The race is scheduled to begin at 3pm AEDT.

Here are the start times in each of Australia's five time zones:

• 3pm AEDT: ACT, NSW, Tasmania, Victoria
• 2:30pm ACDT: South Australia
• 2pm AEST: Queensland
• 1:30pm ACST: Northern Territory
• 12pm AWST: Western Australia

Who is the favourite for the Melbourne Cup?

This year's Melbourne Cup appears to be a wide-open field, with early favourites being withdrawn.

Irish raider Jan Brueghel was taken out of the race last week on veterinary advice.

Cox Plate winner Via Sistina was also taken out from the entry list, with the horse's connections not wanting to back-up so soon after a blistering win at Mooney Valley.

Many fancy UK-trained horse Buckaroo, trained by Chris Waller, for this year's Melbourne Cup. The six-year-old flew home to claim second in the Caulfield Cup, a performance which pleased many watchers.

Onesmoothoperator has also been fancied as a chance at winning the great race. Its victory in the Geelong Cup was terrific and has some believing it can follow in the footsteps of Media Puzzle (2002), Americain (2010) and Dunaden (2011) by completing the Geelong-Melbourne Cup double.

Sea King also caught the attention of a few after a stellar performance to win the Bendigo Cup,

How can I watch the Melbourne Cup?

The Melbourne Cup will be broadcast by the Nine Network, on Channel 9.

The race will also be streamed on their streaming service, Nine Now.

ABC Sport will be live blogging the full day of racing from Flemington.

You can also listen to the live call on ABC Radio, ABC Sport Digital and the ABC Listen App, from 2:30pm AEDT.

How long is the Melbourne Cup?

Australia's most-watched horse race is 3,200 metres in length.

The Melbourne Cup is for the stayers — those who race over the longer distances.

It has been that distance since Australia converted to the metric system in 1972.

Previously the race was run over two miles, which was 3,219m.

Sometimes people will refer to the length of the Melbourne Cup as "two metric miles".

The winner will usually complete the race in about 3 minutes and 20 seconds.

Who won the Melbourne Cup last year?

Irish horse Without A Fight created history in 2023 when it crossed the line first to claim the Melbourne Cup.

Without A Fight became the first horse since 2001 to win the Melbourne and Caulfield cups in the same year.

Jockey Mark Zahra claimed back-to-back Cups after also piloting Gold Trip the year before.

Zahra became the first jockey to win back-to-back Melbourne Cups on different horses since Harry White on Arwon in 1978 and Hyperno in 1979.

It was the ninth Melbourne Cup win for the Freedman family as trainers, and the first with Anthony and Sam Freedman as co-trainers.