Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott and the trainer of champion racehorse Winx, Chris Waller, will be among the Australians at the Queen’s funeral.

Mr Alcott and Waller have been selected among a group of 10 people to attend the state funeral for the Queen at Westminster Abbey on Monday.

Waller regularly spoke with the Queen about her racehorses.

“She was very normal and made you feel very comfortable,” he told Nine’s Today show.

The remaining eight people announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday are:

• Valmai Dempsey, 2022 Senior Australian of the Year
• Shanna Whan, 2022 Australian of the Year Local Hero
• Saba Abraham, Local Hero 2022, Queensland
• Kim Smith APM, Local Hero 2022, Tasmania
• Trudy Lin, Young Australian of the Year 2022, South Australia
• Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann AM, 2021 Senior Australian of the Year
• Professor Helen Milroy, 2021 Western Australia Australian of the Year
• Danny Abdallah, Co-Creator of i4give Day and Foundation

They will represent Australia at the funeral in addition to Australian dignitaries, who include Mr Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon, Governor-General David Hurley and his wife Linda, along with acting high-commissioner to the United Kingdom Lynette Wood.

Mr Albanese said the group was partly chosen due to their availability to travel to London in time for Monday’s state funeral at Westminster Abbey.

“We are paying respect here, and I think frankly what we did, objectively and in very short notice, was appoint people who objectively you can see – it wasn’t a political decision – people who had served their country and had been given significant recognition as either Australians of the year or senior Australians of the year,” he said.

“It was an appropriate list. Nor do we know which way they vote in elections.”

Controversial former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith also plans to be there. Mr Roberts Smith is a holder of the Victoria Cross – the highest military honour.

As such, he has been invited by Buckingham Palace, along with other Australian VC recipients Keith Payne, Mark Donaldson and Daniel Keighran.

Mr Roberts-Smith is awaiting the verdict in a long-running defamation case against the Nine newspapers, over reports he alleges wrongly portray him as a war criminal and murderer.

Some Pacific nations have also accepted an offer from Australia for transport to the state funeral in London.

Also on Tuesday, RSL Australia president Greg Melick confirmed he would attend, on behalf of the organisation, of which the Queen was a patron.

Mr Melick said it was an honour to be invited to mourn the Queen’s service.

“For the past seven decades, every person who enlisted in the Australian Defence Force swore an oath to serve Queen Elizabeth II and her heirs and successors so it is fitting we are now able to personally express our condolences,” he said.

It came as Mr Albanese hosted diplomats from more than 20 Commonwealth nations to commemorate the the Queen’s life.

Ambassadors and high commissioners met Mr Albanese at The Lodge for the memorial reception on Tuesday morning.

Diplomats from nations including Britain, New Zealand, Canada, Tonga, Fiji and South Africa were among the gathering.

Mr Albanese was also joined by Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland and Pacific Minister Pat Conroy.

He said it was important for Commonwealth nations to be able to mourn the late monarch.

“They’re coming to pay their respects and to commemorate the contribution of Queen Elizabeth to the Commonwealth,” he told Sydney radio 2GB on Tuesday.

When Mr Albanese returns from London, Australia will have a day of mourning on September 22. It will include a national memorial service at Parliament House.

The short notice about the public holiday sparked concern among medical professionals about the impact on planned elective surgeries.

However, Mr Albanese hosed down the concerns, saying the day of mourning was the right decision.

“I’m sure that these issues, with a bit of common sense, can be worked through. If someone needs chemotherapy on that day, of course, they should receive it,” he said.

“If you’re a small business owner in hospitality there will be an enormous amount of activity on that day, I should imagine.”

A spokesman for Ramsay Health Care, which manages some private Victorian hospitals, said while some services such as day programs and infusions would be rescheduled, surgeries would go ahead.

“In recognition of the severe impact of COVID-19 disruptions on elective surgery over the past two years, we will proceed with some surgical and procedural lists as planned … where there is capacity to do so,” the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Victorian MPs were re-sworn and condolence motions held on Tuesday ahead of an adjournment of state parliament. The re-swearing of senior public office holders and members of parliament following the death of the reigning monarch is unique to Victoria’s constitution.

Elsewhere, other state parliaments were sitting on Tuesday to hear condolence motions before adjourning.

Asked about reports the King might tour Australia in 2023 or the year after, Mr Albanese said the new monarch had a standing invitation to visit.

“He, of course, is very familiar with Australians and he’d be very welcome here,” he said.

-with AAP