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Victor Huang used to get in trouble for playing video games, hiding his hobby by skipping school and spending his days in internet cafes.

Today, the 24-year-old's formerly illicit pastime is a full-time job as he competes for million-dollar prize pools on the professional e-sports circuit.

Huang, known by the username FBI, rose to fame on multiplayer battler League of Legends, one of the world's most popular games with more than 10 million daily players.

At 20, he became the first Australian to play in North America's top professional competition for the game.

Within two years he was competing at worlds, the crown jewel in the lucrative e-sports calendar.

Huang started playing League of Legends as a teenager and immediately loved it. The same couldn't be said for his parents.

"I come from a pretty traditional Chinese family," he told AAP.

"My dad used to get really angry when he caught me playing games, so I had to hide it from them."

Huang would ditch school and spend hours in front of a screen in an internet cafe in Sydney's south, using his lunch money to pay for computer time.

Every day he played, his rank climbed a little higher.

The cafe's owner eventually took notice and made him an offer that would go on to define his career.

"She told me if I advertised the internet cafe's name on the leaderboard, she would give me free time. For me, that was a no-brainer," he said.

Although the cafe has now closed, Huang has carried its name onto the global stage.

At the League of Legends world championship, 22 teams compete for a $US2.2 million ($A3.2m) prize pool before more than five million viewers.

It is only one of a string of professional tournaments for multiplayer video games, which include titles such as Valorant, Overwatch, Super Smash Bros and Dota 2.

In 2018, Melbourne-born Anathan Pham took home $3m after winning the International Dota 2 Championships when he was 18 years old. Over his career, he amassed almost $8m in prize money across 25 tournaments.

Within the gaming scene, Australian players are often seen as mediocre, but Huang said there was a lot of undiscovered talent in the region.

He was scouted after American e-sports coach Nicholas Smith, also known as Inero, saw him play.

At 19, Huang moved halfway across the world to play in the US and he is now based in Los Angeles.

"There's a lot of risk, like any competitive sport," he said.

"In e-sports, we're very young when we come in and we dedicate long periods of our lives to the game. So if you aren't successful, you could say you've wasted years of your life."

But that wasn't the case for Huang.

In 2021, his team won the LCS Championship, taking home $US20,000 and the title of North American champion.

He has his eyes on this year's prize, but he isn't the only Australian gunning for it.

In 2022, Brisbane-born Ibrahim Allami, known as Fudge, was part of the Cloud9 squad that beat Huang's team to take out the championship.

In preparation for tournaments, Huang spends 10 to 12 hours per day training with his new team Evil Geniuses, trying to ignore the pressure of an uncertain and high-stakes industry.

His family has since come around on gaming and now watch all of his matches.

Huang's dad has used his free time in retirement to learn about the game - and even offers advice on how Huang should play.

"He's a bit clueless sometimes, but it's pretty comical and I'm just glad they've supported me the whole way," he said.

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Cameron Green has recovered from a frustrating broken finger and is ready to play a major role in Australia's push to turn around their troubled tour of India.

The 23-year-old will make his first appearance since suffering the injury while batting during the Boxing Day Test against South Africa at the MCG.

Green has been sorely missed batting at No.6, bowling valuable overs of pace, and for his deadly fielding in gully during the first two Tests in India.

Australia trail 0-2 heading into the third Test in Indore, starting on Wednesday, with any hope of regaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy already gone after two calamitous batting collapses in Delhi and Nagpur.

But the tourists can still guarantee their spot in the World Test Championship final, almost certainly to be against India, at Lord's if they can avoid a 4-0 whitewash.

"It was just a few instances in the nets where I'd maybe go for a sweep and just jar the end of my bat," Green said in Delhi on Friday.

"We just thought we'd sacrifice a game and with the year ahead we've got, it was probably the right call.

"It's been really sweet the last two weeks, I've got a lot of confidence in it."

Initially it was feared Green's bowling would take longer to come back after suffering the injury, but it is only now he is feeling comfortable batting against all types of bowlers.

Green batted for more than an hour at training on Friday, declaring himself "ready" for his first Test on Indian soil.

"My bowling is actually doing really well," Green said.

"We probably thought maybe the ball on the back of the finger, kind of rolling off might be painful, but that's been completely fine.

"I had my first hit probably four or five days go against pace bowlers and it felt completely fine so thankfully it's not really bouncy like in Australia where over here you can get over the ball pretty easily."

Green will likely come in for Matt Renshaw and bat at No.6, with Travis Head to remain as opener in place of David Warner after a blazing cameo during the second innings in Delhi.

Star quick Mitchell Starc will almost certainly fill the void left by captain Pat Cummins after the 33-year-old missed the first two Tests against India due to a broken finger.

Cummins has opted to remain in Australia for the third Test after returning home to be with his seriously ill mother.

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Revellers wrapped in rainbows and sparkling in sequins will make a pilgrimage to the queer community's spiritual home when Mardi Gras returns to the streets after two years away.

On Saturday night, Sydney's Oxford Street will be awash with glitter as it welcomes an estimated 300,000 partygoers during the crown jewel of the WorldPride program.

The event follows a blockbuster WorldPride opening concert in the Domain on Friday night, when Kylie Minogue headlined in a performance that included a surprise cameo from her sister Dannii.

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade will return to its heritage-listed route after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the event to relocate to the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2021 and 2022.

More than 200 floats and 12,500 parade participants will dance through 1.7 kilometres of rainbow-lined streets in a celebration of queer identity, community and equality.

Anthony Albanese will become the first sitting prime minister to march in the parade, which he initially joined in 1983 - five years after it began as a protest for gay rights.

"I won't try and compete in the fashion stakes," he said on Saturday.

"Pride is something that we should be proud of, that Australia is moving towards a more and more equal community where everyone is respected, no matter who they love."

Mr Albanese said when he first marched in the parade 40 years ago people were campaigning for their basic rights and there had been a long journey of reform since that era.

Transgender activist Kalypso Finbar said the parade's return had come with a renewed sense of pride.

"It's almost like a resurrection," she said.

"There's a different energy in the air this year because there's more accessibility because of that Oxford Street factor."

For Mardi Gras veterans such as Dykes on Bikes president Emily Saunders, it feels like a homecoming.

"It's our natural home, we ride motorcycles, for us, being on the street is where we belong," she told AAP.

The 2023 celebration marks 45 years since the first parade, which ended in dozens of people being arrested and charged.

Lance Dow, who was part of the 1978 march, says he feels "excited but odd" to still be attending almost five decades later.

"Being a '78er, it's incredible how far we've come since that night," he told AAP.

Mr Dow said the hundred or so marchers didn't have a clear idea about what they were doing back then.

"We didn't know much about pride in those days, it was all camp. But now I feel a lot of pride."

In recognition of their historical significance, Dykes on Bikes and their gay counterparts will lead the parade alongside a First Nations float and one dedicated to the '78ers.

This year's event will also feature some relative newcomers such as Haka for Life, an organisation that raises awareness of mens mental health issues.

CEO of Haka for Life Leon Ruri says their float, which will come alive with didgeridoos, corroboree and haka, will be one of the loudest of the night.

"We're using the medicine of culture," he told AAP.

"We've got so many people with diverse backgrounds and people recovering from serious addictions and all those sorts of things. So to have them here on this line and expressing themselves with a smile. We're winning."

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade begins at 6pm AEDT on Saturday.

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Glitter-clad partygoers have made a riotous rainbow return to the queer community's spiritual home as Sydney's Mardi Gras reawakens Oxford Street for the first time since 2020.

Hundreds of thousands of sequined revellers have lined Sydney's inner-city streets on Saturday for the start of the 45th Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.

The parade has returned to its heritage-listed route after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the event to relocate to the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2021 and 2022.

David Mulally says the compounding impact of WorldPride and Oxford Street homecoming has elevated every aspect of the queer extravaganza.

"It's like Mardi Gras on steroids. There's 10 times more glitter, 10 times more fun, 10 times more fabulous," Mulally told AAP.

"To be able to do it all back on Oxford Street, everyone has to stop and take note of this amazing cultural thing that we have."

The celebration, which is the crown jewel of Sydney's WorldPride program, has brought visitors to the harbour city from all corners of the globe.

Parade participant Odirley Souza travelled from Brazil for his first Sydney Mardi Gras.

While Souza says Sao Paolo's parade has bigger attendance, he feels much safer dressing as a shimmering butterfly against Sydney's skyline than at home.

"This parade is part of the cultural fabric of our city," Mulally said.

"It's great to be able to stop the city and show the country, the city, the world, what us gays can do."

More than 200 floats and 12,500 parade participants will dance through 1.7 kilometres of rainbow-lined streets in a celebration of this year's theme: Gather, Dream, Amplify.

This year's parade features Mardi Gras veterans such as Dykes on Bikes and the 78ers alongside some of the country's most powerful leaders.

Anthony Albanese will become the first sitting prime minister to march in the parade, which he initially joined in 1983 - five years after it began as a protest for gay rights.

He is expected to appear at 9pm with NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, the first openly gay woman in federal parliament.

Lisa Anderson, who has donned a waterfall of hand-sewn rainbow ribbons, says the politicians' participation is emblematic of the strides LGBTQI rights have made since her first Mardi Gras in the 1980s.

"It's pretty amazing. We used to have senior political figures condemning pride but now everyone is joining in."

"You can hear everybody is happy. Everyone's you know is doing something for WorldPride."

© AAP 2023