Check the current local time in Sydney, Australia. Sydney uses the Australia/Sydney time zone, with AEST (UTC +10:00) during standard time and AEDT (UTC +11:00) during daylight saving time.
AEST
UTC +10:00
Used outside daylight saving time
AEDT
UTC +11:00
Observed during daylight saving time
DST starts
October 4, 2026
Based on First Sunday in October / First Sunday in April
Sydney runs on AEDT (summer, UTC+11) or AEST (winter, UTC+10). Same offset as Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart. Note: Brisbane also uses AEST year-round (no DST in Queensland), so Brisbane and Sydney are on the same clock in winter and 1 h apart in summer. ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) trading runs 10 AM - 4 PM AEDT/AEST. Sydney anchors Australian financial services.
Oceania is dominated by Australia's three timezones — AEDT/AEST (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane), ACDT/ACST (Adelaide, Darwin, +30 min), AWDT/AWST (Perth). New Zealand sits an additional 2-3 h ahead. Queensland (Brisbane), Northern Territory, and Western Australia do not observe DST — so summer flips create a moving mix of neighbouring-city offsets. Auckland is one of the earliest cities to open the world business day.
Sydney operates on the Australia/Sydney timezone, switching between AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time, UTC +10:00) during winter and AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight Time, UTC +11:00) during summer. Critically, Australia's DST runs in the opposite season from the Northern Hemisphere — clocks move forward in October and back in April. This means Sydney is ahead of most of the world for more than half the year.
The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) opens at 10:00 AM and closes at 4:00 PM AEST/AEDT. When Sydney's market opens, Tokyo is already past midday, Singapore is at 8:00–9:00 AM, and London is in the middle of the night (midnight to 1:00 AM). This makes Sydney the first major financial centre to open each trading day, setting early price signals for Asian markets.
Scheduling from Sydney is challenging for transatlantic teams. London (GMT) is 10 hours behind Sydney in AEST and 11 hours behind during AEDT — meaning almost no business hours overlap. The only viable window is Sydney's early morning (7:00–9:00 AM AEST), which aligns with London's previous evening (9:00–11:00 PM GMT). New York (EST) is 15–16 hours behind Sydney, making live collaboration practically impossible during standard hours. Sydney teams working with US clients often accept that one side will work outside normal hours.
Within Australia, DST is not universal — Queensland (Brisbane) does not observe DST, remaining on AEST (UTC +10:00) year-round. This creates a persistent 1-hour gap between Sydney and Brisbane during Australian summer (roughly October to April), which regularly catches people off guard when scheduling domestic Australian meetings.
Sydney business hours run 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM AEST/AEDT, Monday to Friday.
Local Exchange
Daylight Saving Time
DST starts on October 4, 2026. Clocks spring forward — sunrise and sunset shift one hour later in Sydney.
Major cities in Australia — some may be in a different time zone than Sydney if the country spans multiple zones.
Find the perfect overlap time between your timezone and Sydney. Our calculator shows when business hours align.
Calculate Best Calling TimeEverything you need to know about Sydney time
