Their heads tell them there will be severe implications for the economy if the radical-left Syriza party wins power in the January 25 election and implements its anti-capitalist promises to throw off the shackles imposed by the European community.

But in their hearts, they know the struggle their families in Greece have suffered through harsh austerity measures.

Syriza's 40-year-old leader Alexis Tspiras, likely to become the new prime minister, has pledged to help the poor and renegotiate the European Union's strangling bailout conditions. The Athens stock market plunged by more than 10 per cent in response to news of his likely election later this month.

Bill Papastergiadis, a lawyer and president of the Greek Community of Melbourne, says many Australians have shared the emotional pain and some of the financial burden with their families in Greece, by sending them money.

"At the end of the day what people are really looking for is stability and a plan ahead. The issue of constant change is creating a lot of uncertainty for [people in Greece] and Greeks abroad," he said.

"We'd like stability, a government with a strong mandate, an economic upswing for the country and a better social and political environment for our friends and relatives in Greece."

Mr Papastergiadis said there was uncertainty about the impact a Syriza win will have on the economy.

He is among Greek Australians now required to pay new taxes on properties in Greece.

"It was a very low taxed country for a long period of time. So [the taxes] brought Greece back to the levels you'd expect in a country like Australia," he said.

"Tsipras is proposing increasing salary levels and pensions. For those Greek Australians who are entitled to a pension from Greece, that will mean some respite."

But Syriza's determination to redefine the current bail out measures had raised some concern.

"That would have an effect on those Greek Australians who own property in Greece, because their land and properties would be significantly devalued," Mr Papastergiadis said.

"There is an agreement in place between both countries where there are reciprocal arrangements for pension rights. There is still some unfinished business from the Greek end. The mechanism for payment of pensions to those Greeks now living in Australia hasn't been properly finalised."

A reciprocal tourist working visa agreement, executed by Australia more than eight months ago, was also still awaiting Greece's ratification. That agreement allows people under 30 to work in both countries.

Growing support for Syriza has less to do with political allegiances, than a desperate grasp for relief from economic exhaustion.

Policies over the years have resulted in 1.5 million people being unemployed and 3 million living in poverty, The Guardian reported. The suicide rate has almost doubled from 2.8 to 5.2 per 100,000 between 2005 and 2010, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development figures. That means more than 500 deaths in a year.

When it comes to support for more change in government, many Greek Australians are torn.

Unlike Italian immigrants, who fled fascism and largely embraced the Labor Party, early Greek migrants were more evenly split in their voting. Those who became factory workers and labourers gravitated to Labor, while those who ran small businesses, such as cafes and milk bars, generally favoured the Liberals.

The economic crisis in Greece has resulted in a proliferation of support for extreme ends of the political spectrum.

On the radical right is the Golden Dawn party whose nationalistic, anti-immigration policies helped it win a foothold in parliament for the first time in 2012. Academics and media have described the party's policies as neo-Nazi, fascist, racist and xenophobic.

Syriza has raised fears its election to power will force Greece's exit from the European Union, a return to the Greek drachma and another crash in the economy.

Sydney lawyer, Nick Pappas, is among Greek Australians who are closely following its progress.

He said Greek Australians were increasingly concerned about the damage the continuing economic and political crisis was causing to Greece's reputation.

"What we are seeing is not emblematic of the newer generation of modern Greeks both from the diaspora and Greece itself who are, on the whole, enterprising and full of initiative," he said.

Mr Pappas said the Syriza leader's bold talk of severing ties with Europe and seeking the write-off of the country's debt had so far been rhetoric.

"Tsipras has been rousing the national conscience with populist slogans, but with very little detail on how he will achieve his aims," he said.

"Thankfully, he has moderated his language in the last week or so, so one can only hope that he now appreciates that mere rhetoric will not be sufficient and that a more considered approach to Europe is what is needed. Now that power is a possibility for him, he would do well to reflect that the Greeks will judge harshly a populist leader who does not deliver on his lofty promises."

Nia Karteris, the vice-president of the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW and director of the Greek festival, said she did not believe Tsipras would leave the EU.

"I think it would be more damaging for Greece if he does take a 360 degree turn and leave the eurozone and return to the drachma," she said.

"I want to invest in Greece, but the tax measures make it too difficult for me to purchase something. The rental market is so dead, property would just sit there."

Ms Karteris, who as a three-year-old migrated to Australia with her mother and two siblings in 1970, said she was saddened Greece had not embraced multiculturalism and that Golden Dawn had created animosity towards migrants. Her father had left the central Greek village of Agrinio two years earlier to work as a labourer in Australia.

Her mother worked as a cleaner at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital before working in a factory.

"It is a sad thing to say, and I am a Greek, the racism in that country with migrants is just getting stronger and stronger," she said.

"This country has embraced me and my culture and allows me to express my culture and identity and also allows me to grow as a Greek Australian.

"It wasn't always an open-arm embrace being here. But we were accepted and treated as equals. We were allowed to grow and express ourselves – keeping identity, but also following the Australian way of life."