The sense of anticipation was palpable just hours before the start of an operation to hoist up the miners.
The outdoor tent village, dubbed Camp Hope, which has sprung up outside the mine to house the men's families has become increasingly frenetic in the past few days, with thousands flocking to the site to witness the historic rescue.
Clowns have been enlisted to entertain the miners' children and a Catholic Mass was held over the weekend on a balloon-filled stage.
Now the mood is more frenzied than ever, in anticipation of Wednesday's happy ending to what many initially feared was Chile's worst ever mining disaster.
The miners' relatives were preparing for joyful and tearful reunions ahead. But there was also a touch of anxiety.
"I'm a little nervous, we've never spent so much time apart," said Cristina Nunez, the longtime partner of miner Claudio Yanez.
"I didn't sleep much. I went to bed at 04:30 and woke up at 06:00," said Alberto Segovia, who has been maintaining an anxious vigil for his brother Dario.
Media stars
The men have been trapped for 10 weeks, since an August 5 mine collapse, turning their unprecedented underground survival into a tale of immense international human interest.
The 32 Chileans and one Bolivian have become national heroes and imminent media stars, with books, movies and a barrage of press coverage likely from the moment they emerge from the mine.
In the ultimate sign of just how big a spectacle the miners' rescue has become, television megastar Don Francisco - one of the biggest celebrities in all of Latin America - was preparing to broadcast from the site.
"I haven't seen so much media attention since the Apollo XI back in 1969," said the Chilean performer, referring to the Nasa mission that sent men to the moon for the first time.
A household name throughout Latin America, Don Francisco was just one of the hundreds of journalists milling around at the entrance to the mine, their numbers swelling with each passing hour ahead of the start of the rescue.
Top dignitaries were also arriving, with President Sebastian Pinera already at the site to be joined later by his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales.
There were about 2 000 people crowding Camp Hope on Tuesday, a number likely to almost double over the course of the day, officials at the site said.
Siren
The blaring of a siren, and a pulsating light were to announce the arrival of each miner at the surface, signalling to waiting medical teams to be on the alert.
Police also beefed up their ranks to deal with the crowds and put in place what they said was an impregnable barrier to prevent the arrival of gawkers.
The miners were detected alive August 22, an agonising 17 days after the collapse, triggering nationwide euphoria. A frantic rescue operation was launched in which the government has spared no expense, and which has boosted the popularity of President Pinera and his mining minister Laurence Golborne.
Authorities initially said it could take until Christmas to get the men out of the mine, so part of the festive feeling came from the relief that they were to be extracted from their underground cavern weeks ahead of time.
Camp Hope has been the site of open-air concerts, giant barbecues, a cantina and a school for the miners' relatives, many of whom hunkered down here shortly after learning about the August 5 cave-in at the copper and gold mine.
Nearby towns sent in food supplies, a generator, tents for the families, portable toilets, and a mobile telephone network.
In the days that followed, hordes of journalists who flocked to the site also began to set up their own camp bringing tents as well as motor-homes, and pre-fabricated huts.
To avoid a crush of people at the site at the time miners are brought to the surface, access roads to the mine were to be closed off after 18:00 (21:00 GMT).
"There will be no traffic," police official Juan Diaz told the daily El Mercurio newspaper. "The roads will only be available for use by ambulances."
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