Prime-time television across Australian free-to-air channels tends to build towards a fairly fixed slot each evening, and for a lot of households 8:17 pm is the point where the good stuff actually starts. This page counts down to it precisely, right down to the second, rather than leaving you to guess from the clock on the wall.
Because the countdown reads straight from your device's own clock, its accuracy depends on that clock being set correctly, including the right time zone. Most phones and computers handle this automatically, so in practice the figure shown lines up with whatever time your device already displays.
Public transport timetables in Australia are almost always printed in 24-hour time, which is exactly why 20:17 is worth having on hand even if 8:17 pm is the version that comes to mind first. Matching the two formats against each other takes the guesswork out of reading a printed timetable correctly.
Common questions
Can I use this to time something happening tomorrow instead of today?
The countdown always points to the next time that moment occurs, so if it has already passed for today, it is already counting down to tomorrow's occurrence without any adjustment needed.
Does daylight saving affect the countdown?
Yes, because it reads from your device's own clock, any daylight saving change your device applies automatically is reflected in the countdown without any extra step on your part.
Why does the countdown look different on two devices checked at once?
That usually means the two clocks are not perfectly in sync, or one device has not adjusted for a time zone or daylight saving change. The countdown itself always follows whatever clock it is reading from.
Is there a way to make the countdown count towards a different time?
This particular page is fixed to one target time. Checking a different one just means visiting the matching page built for that specific time instead.
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