Cambodia kicked off its first ever hosting of the Southeast Asian Games on Friday, in a spectacle of singing, dancing, flag-waving and fireworks.

The evening's festivities welcomed athletes from across the region to the biennial multi-sport event while trumpeting the country's rich history and thanking its long-ruling leader for recent modernisation.

Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party is keen to build excitement and patriotic fervour around the SEA Games, with a successful event and good medal haul likely to boost national sentiment two months ahead of parliamentary elections which the CPP will almost certainly win.

"For me, this event is very wonderful. We have been waiting for this for 64 years," said Seng Meng Hong, a 24-year-old attendee.

The SEA Games were first held in Bangkok in 1959.

Tickets to the Games have been given away for free – and demand has been high.

Inside the Morodok Techo National Stadium on Friday, a clear and balmy evening, all of the venue's 60,000 seats were packed.

Built and paid for by China, the stadium looms over the open, wooded parts of Phnom Penh's far outskirts like a crash-landed spaceship.

But its two dramatically cresting pylons also evoke the keel and stern of Chinese trading junks which plied the capital city's waterways hundreds of years ago.

Almost all in attendance wafted themselves with handheld fans or brandished Cambodian flags – when not participating in an impeccably observed Mexican wave.

All stood for the national anthem when soldiers in ceremonial uniform performed a flag-raising ceremony.

Along with dignitaries including the prime minister of Vietnam and the president of Laos, Hun Sen entered the stadium to great applause.

The prime minister spoke briefly, expressing his gratitude for peace in the country under his leadership and declaring the opening of the Games.

Events kick into full gear on Saturday, with the Games running until May 17, before the Para Games in early June. (AFP)