Hundreds of survivors and relatives of the dead gathered on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Friday to mark the 10th anniversary of bombings that killed 202 people.

Security was tight, with more than 2,000 police and military guarding the service after police earlier this week reported a threat of an attack on dignitaries at the event.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard led a list of dignitaries in attendance. She gave a defiant speech, saying the attack, which killed 88 Australians, did not defeat the resolve of the Australian people.

“We will never forget all that we lost. We will hold fast to that which remains: To our determination as a free people to explore the world unbowed by fear; to our resolve to defeat terrorism; and to our duty to care for each other.”

The October 2002 attacks on two Bali nightclubs were carried out by suicide bombers with the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group. It was followed by a wave of terror attacks across Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.

Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika, a former police chief who led the investigation, said the attack has given Indonesian authorities the “strength to fight terrorism and all other extremist activities.”

All of the leading perpetrators of the attack are thought to have been executed, killed by police, or jailed during a crackdown on Islamist militant groups in the decade following the attack.

Though the country has since seen an increase in domestic terrorism, most the recent attacks have been on a smaller scale and aimed at police or government officials.

On Wednesday, police said they had uncovered “credible evidence” of a planned terror attack on dignitaries attending the Friday ceremony. The country's security was raised to its highest level ahead of the event.

Memorials were also held across Australia to mark the anniversary.