Time Difference Between London and Sydney

At a glance

Times shown use the most common 10-hour offset (London GMT, Sydney AEST). During the UK summer, subtract 1 hour from Sydney. During the Australian summer, add 1 hour to Sydney.

Why the gap varies between 9 and 11 hours

This is the most complex pair on the site because the UK and Australia observe daylight saving in opposite seasons:

• Australian DST (AEDT, UTC+11): early October to early April
• UK DST (BST, UTC+1): late March to late October

That creates four distinct windows through the year:

• Roughly Apr-Sep: UK in BST, Sydney in AEST → 9 hours ahead (easiest overlap)
• Brief late March / early April: UK BST + Sydney AEDT → 10 hours
• Brief late October / early November: UK GMT + Sydney AEST → 10 hours
• Roughly Nov-Mar: UK in GMT, Sydney in AEDT → 11 hours ahead (hardest overlap)

The Time Zone Converter automatically picks the right offset for any specific date you enter. Don't try to do this mentally — even seasoned travellers get it wrong.

Best times to schedule a meeting (the honest version)

There is no business-hours overlap that works for both sides without someone taking an out-of-hours call. The realistic options:

• 7-9 AM London / 5-7 PM Sydney — early start for London, late afternoon for Sydney. The most popular choice; Sydney usually accepts a slightly-after-hours call rather than London taking pre-breakfast.
• 7-9 PM London / 6-8 AM Sydney — late London evening, very early Sydney morning. Workable if Sydney is genuinely a morning person.
• Asynchronous-only — for most UK ↔ AU teams, the right answer is to skip live meetings entirely and work async via Slack/email with handover notes at end-of-day. Live calls are for monthly check-ins, not weekly sync.

If you're coordinating a 3-way call involving someone in the US or Europe, the Meeting Planner is essential — finding a slot that works for three timezones requires seeing all the bands at once.

Mind the date

Because Sydney is so far ahead, almost any London afternoon meeting lands on the next calendar day in Sydney. A 4 PM Friday call in London is 2 AM Saturday in Sydney. When sending invites, always include both date and time, or you'll have colleagues showing up a day late or early.

Travel and jet lag notes

London ↔ Sydney is one of the longest commercial flight pairs in the world (typically 22-24 hours including a stopover, occasionally direct on Qantas Project Sunrise routes at ~19 hours). Jet lag is severe in both directions:

• London → Sydney: you "lose" 10-11 hours and a day. Expect 3-5 days to fully adjust. Sleep on the plane aggressively.
• Sydney → London: you "gain" 10-11 hours but the body clock still has to flip. Usually slightly easier than the eastward direction, but still rough.

If you're travelling for work, factor in a recovery day at each end — the productivity loss on day 1 in Sydney is real.

Frequently asked questions

See live times and convert exact moments

For the live, currently-ticking time in London and Sydney (and 60+ other cities), see the World Clock. To convert any specific date and time, use the Time Zone Converter — essential for this pair given the seasonal mismatch. For coordinating a meeting involving a third city, the Meeting Planner shows everyone's working-hours overlap visually.

Other ZoneKit guides

• Time difference between London and New York
• Time difference between London and Tokyo
• Time difference between New York and Los Angeles
• Time difference between London and Sydney
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