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Sydney is braced for Apec, for better or worse.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard extolled the benefits of Apec week with his now-customary address via the internet, on YouTube, as 20 world leaders prepare to descend on a city that is expected to grind to halt to traffic by Friday, a public holiday for lucky workers.

Reading their helpful Sydney Morning Herald four-page Apec survival guide, commuters were warned of major traffic delays.

But around the CBD there was little disruption on a warm spring Monday morning.

The 5km perimeter fence around the inner city, standing an imposing 2.8m high, caused intrigue as much as anything as Sydneysiders went about their business.

Police gathered in groups on street corners and at the entrance to train stations, helicopters buzzed overhead, while police cars were dotted around but hardly forced into action.

A bemused German tourist had the distinction of being the first to press police into action when he was detained briefly for taking a cellphone photo of the security fence.

The Daily Telegraph captured his confusion as he sat on the pavement, released with a warning after being told to delete the offending photos. Anyone who even looks like a potential protester or organiser, possibly looking for “weak points” in the fence, is apparently not to be encouraged.