Dykes on Bikes and Boys on Bikes opened the festivities with roars to rival the engine revs from the tens of thousands who gathered along the route to cheer on the marchers.
Sydney Bravehearts - a group dedicated to LGBTQI Scottish ex-pats, friends and allies - soon made themselves heard with their bagpipes and drums.
Mardi Gras should be at the top of the bucket list for any piper or drummer, Bravehearts marcher Janine Hall told AAP.
Previously in an orchestra playing another instrument, a hand injury eight years ago meant Ms Hall made the switch to bagpipes and she hasn't looked back.
This is her second year taking part in the Bravehearts Mardi Gras float.
"(Mardi Gras is) just so electric, it's the highlight of the year," she said.
"People are drawn to the pipes, even when we fired up to practice it quickly gathered a crowd."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese didn't march this year but plenty of other MPs including Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek, NSW independent Alex Greenwich and City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore were spotted in the mix.
NSW Education Minister Prue Car, who has been on personal leave undergoing treatment for breast cancer since June 2025, joined the departmental float. Earlier this month she announced she was cancer free.
Some of the youngest marchers were spotted in the Rainbow Families float, with many small children carried on their parent's shoulders, pushed in prams or doing their best to keep up on little legs.
It was important for children to have an opportunity to celebrate inclusion, diversity and pride in being part of a same sex family, marcher Renee told AAP.
"Mardi Gras celebrates that we are all different but we can come together and celebrate being exactly who we are," she said.
"This is my third year taking part and I love the vibe, the atmosphere and the fact that everyone can be themselves."
The night was not without controversy, with an activist group told its float would be banned from the Mardi Gras parade less than 24 hours before the event.
Mardi Gras organisers told the Pride in Protest group it could not participate because of its social media conduct.
Members of the group have previously marched alongside a float under the banner No Pride in Genocide in support of Palestine.
But Pride in Protest posts on social media directed at a Jewish LGBTQI group were deemed to have breached the parade's code of conduct.
A sun shower just before the march began failed to deter revellers, with looming clouds holding off until the end of the parade when light rain fell on the last of the marchers.
After sunset, six planets aligned in the evening sky, an intergalactic event CSIRO senior engineer Suzy Jackson said reflected the Mardi Gras Ecstatica Galactica theme.
"Essentially this happens because all of the planets are spinning around the sun in their different orbits and occasionally they do happen to line up," she said.
"But it's pretty cool that we're getting a nice planetary alignment for our celebrations."
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