Prime Minister Tony Abbott has paid tribute to the sacrifice of the Australian troops who served in Afghanistan in a speech delivered at a welcome home parade in Darwin.

More than 250 Australian Defence Force personnel returned from Uruzgan Province in December, but Saturday's parade marked the official end of Australia's active involvement in the Afghanistan war.

The day began with a march through Darwin's CBD before dignitaries, Defence Force personnel and their families moved to the Great Hall in the Northern Territory Parliament building.

The parade was led by the women and men of the Combined Team Uruzgan rotations four and five who were responsible for mentoring Afghan security forces.

They were followed by the 2nd Cavalry Regiment task force, which provided security for the final withdrawal of Australian forces.

Mr Abbott said the troops' role in the conflict ended "not with victory, not with defeat, but with hope that Afghanistan will be a better country for our presence".

"We salute all the men and women who have served in a far country for a good cause," he said.

"We mourn the 40 who did not return. We grieve with the more than 250 with serious injuries and we acknowledge the unseen wounds of thousands.

"You have done things that no-one should have to do."

Mr Abbott also thanked the troops for their role in the construction of 26 girls' schools, 200 kilometres of sealed roads and building civil services in the country.

"You have acted in our country's name, wearing our country's uniform and our country won't let you down," he said.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten echoed the sentiments of the Prime Minister, acknowledging the 400 ADF personnel who remain in the country to train and advise the Afghan National Army.

"You've put yourself in unimaginable danger and risk," he said.

"You have lived with the daily uncertainty of what the next day may bring. You should be rightly proud as the PM has said, that you have left Afghanistan better than you found it."

Prime Minister Tony Abbott (right) attends the official welcome home parade for Darwin-based Australian Defence Force personnel returning from Afghanistan in Darwin. ( AAP Image: William Carroll )

Job done with 'great professionalism'

Chief of Army, Lieutenant General David Morrison, said the parade marked the end of active service in Afghanistan and Australian troops have served with "great professionalism and honour".

"We are part of the ranks of those men and women who have stood a lonely vigil since 1901," he said.

"We are part of that great narrative of the Australian soldier and service to the nation, that long, loping column stretching back across more than a century who have worn the slouch hat and the rising sun badge abroad in the service of this country.

"We are deeply proud of that and I am deeply proud of you."

Ray Palmer's son Scott died in a helicopter crash while serving in Afghanistan in 2010.

He attended the parade to honour his son and to support the ADF personnel returning from Uruzgan Province.

"I think they did their job and they did it with great professionalism and I'm very proud of them," he said.

"I just think it was good we are actually out of there and they can look after themselves.

"And they did a brilliant job over there, especially with the schools, medical teams and construction work."

However, an Afghanistan veteran says the embattled nation's struggles are not yet over.

Company Sergeant Sean Gibbon says the country is on the mend, but there is still a way to go.

"There was always going to be a slight regression, they're still working out their own country," he said.

"It's not a shake and bake nation, you can't just have a nation spring up overnight.

"Afghanistan is a very culturally diverse, complex old culture that can't just be dragged into a new era.

"They understand there is a better life and that's the life they want to live."