Friday before the AFL Grand Final 2026

Grand Final Friday falls on Friday 25 September 2026 and is a public holiday across all of Victoria. It applies nowhere else in Australia, and the date moves each year with the AFL fixture.

Next date: Friday, 25 September 2026. Applies to All of Victoria. Gazetted annually as the Friday before the AFL Grand Final, so the date follows the AFL fixture rather than a fixed calendar rule. In practice it has fallen on the last Friday in September.

Confirmed dates

YearDayDateApplies to
2026
Friday25 SeptemberAll of Victoria
Future dates are not yet set. The 2027 date is not yet gazetted. Business Victoria's 2027 public holiday list does not include it, because the AFL fixture that sets Grand Final day has not been finalised. Expect confirmation once the AFL releases its season schedule. Treat any 2027 date published elsewhere as an estimate until Victoria gazettes it.
Dates and scope verified against Business Victoria, Victorian public holidays (Business Victoria), checked 29 July 2026.

Who actually gets the day off

This is a regional public holiday, so it does not cover the whole of Victoria. The gazetted scope is:

Friday before the AFL Grand Final

Victoria introduced the Friday before the AFL Grand Final as a public holiday in 2015, and it is the only public holiday in the country whose date is set by a sporting draw rather than a calendar rule or a fixed anniversary. Because the AFL finals series determines Grand Final day, the holiday cannot be gazetted years in advance the way Australia Day or Anzac Day can. It has consistently landed on the last Friday in September, but that is a pattern rather than a rule.

Unlike Melbourne Cup Day, Grand Final Friday applies across the whole of Victoria with no regional substitution. A non-metropolitan council can swap out Cup Day for a local show or race day; it cannot swap out Grand Final Friday. If you work in Victoria, you get it.

If you are outside that area, your normal Victoria public holiday calendar applies instead, and this day is an ordinary working day for you.

What you are paid

If you do not work the day and it is a day you would ordinarily work, you are paid your base rate for the ordinary hours you would have worked. That obligation sits in the National Employment Standards, not your award, so it applies whether or not an award covers you.

Fair Work Act 2009, section 116: an employer must pay an employee at the employee's base rate of pay for the ordinary hours the employee would have worked had the day not been a public holiday. Section 114 gives the right to be absent, subject to a reasonable request to work.

If you do work it, the penalty rate comes from your award or enterprise agreement rather than the NES. Customer-facing awards commonly set public holiday rates between 200% and 250% of the base rate. Work out what a specific day is worth with the public holiday pay calculator, and check your own award on the modern award pay pages.

Casual employees are the common exception. A casual has no ordinary hours, so there is nothing to be paid for on a day not worked. A casual who does work the day gets the public holiday penalty rate in the award, usually on top of casual loading. The casual versus permanent guide sets out how the two interact.

If it falls during your annual leave

You keep the day. A public holiday that falls inside a period of paid annual leave is not deducted from your balance, so a week of leave containing this holiday costs you four days of leave rather than five.

Fair Work Act 2009, section 89: if a period of paid annual leave includes a day that is a public holiday in the place where the employee is based for work purposes, the employee is taken not to be on paid annual leave on that day.

That phrase, "the place where the employee is based for work purposes", is what makes a regional holiday like this one worth checking. It is your work base that decides the entitlement, not your home address. Model the effect on a balance with the annual leave calculator.

For the full Victoria calendar including every statewide date, see public holidays in Victoria, or start from the Victoria leave calculator for annual leave, long service leave and final pay under VIC rules. For every state at once, see the public holidays hub and public holidays 2027. If you are planning leave around it, the long weekends page shows which dates fall next to a weekend, and a public holiday inside a booked break does not consume your balance: check it on the annual leave calculator.

Q & A

Friday before the AFL Grand Final questions.

The entitlement questions people ask most about this day.

When is Grand Final Friday in 2026?
Friday before the AFL Grand Final falls on Friday, 25 September in 2026. Gazetted annually as the Friday before the AFL Grand Final, so the date follows the AFL fixture rather than a fixed calendar rule. In practice it has fallen on the last Friday in September.
Who gets Friday before the AFL Grand Final as a public holiday?
This holiday covers All of Victoria. The gazetted scope is: "Friday before the AFL Grand Final" Under the Fair Work Act the test is the place where you are based for work purposes, not where you live.
Do I get paid if I do not work on Friday before the AFL Grand Final?
Yes, if it is a day you would ordinarily work. Section 116 of the Fair Work Act 2009 requires payment at your base rate of pay for the ordinary hours you would have worked. Casuals are not paid for a public holiday they do not work, because they have no ordinary hours.
What am I paid if I work on Friday before the AFL Grand Final?
Public holiday penalty rates come from your award or agreement, not the National Employment Standards. Rates commonly run between 200% and 250% of the base rate in customer-facing awards. Check your specific award, because the NES sets no penalty rate of its own.
What if Friday before the AFL Grand Final falls during my annual leave?
You do not lose the day. Section 89 of the Fair Work Act says that if a public holiday falls inside a period of paid annual leave, you are taken not to be on annual leave that day, so it is paid as a public holiday and not deducted from your leave balance.
Can my employer make me work on Friday before the AFL Grand Final?
Only if the request is reasonable. Section 114 of the Fair Work Act gives you the right to be absent on a public holiday, but an employer may make a reasonable request for you to work, and you may refuse if that request is unreasonable or your refusal is reasonable. The Act lists the factors, including the nature of the work, your personal circumstances and how much notice you were given.