A shanty town sprung up on Randwick racecourse as thousands of pilgrims slept out ahead of the World Youth Day final mass.
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Cardboard boxes were turned into tents, while others simply slept under plastic.
Johannes Specks, a pilgrim from Cologne, slept with four friends in a box on the edge of the racetrack.
"It is so we don't get wet and it's a funny thing. And people sign on it," he said.
"It's a little bit cold but it's okay."
Messages were scrawled on the outside of the box.
"Best of luck with your hobo house," read one.
"Hey! Hope you have an awesome time and never forget the hot Sydney chicks. Rosie," read another.
Night fell at 5.30pm, and with it the temperature.
Fog blocked the moon and ate the city.
As the cold set in, Chris Panzetta lying in a Canadian Club hat looked up from his sleeping bag in the open field.
"Hopefully these foil things they gave us actually work," he said.
Around him nuns in full habits wore sports scarves and people wrapped survival blankets around their legs as they knelt in front of the altar.
"Tonight, gathered under the beauty of the night sky our hearts and minds are filled with gratitude to God for the great gift of Trinitarian faith," Pope Benedict XVI said in his vigil speech.
"We recall our parents and grandparents who walked alongside us when we, as children, were taking our first steps in our pilgrim journey of faith."
Pope Benedict XVI spoke for more than half an hour in German monotone and broken phrasing.
A translation of his speech crackled through radios and from a chair, a woman signed his speech for a group of deaf pilgrims.
"I thought he was speaking German at first," said Jonathan Saad, 14, a pilgrim from Wentworthville.
"But then I realised it was English and I started to listen and to understand."
Across the crowd, pools of candlelight lit faces.
At the conclusion of his speech, a cheer of "Ben-a-dict-o" went up but for the most part the mass was silent.
"The last year I was working just to pay for this journey," said Patricia Rossa, a pilgrim from Brazil.
"It's really good. I can see it still exists - the young Catholics in the world. I'm really happy to see so much young Catholics in a distant country like Australia."
