Among them were family members who had travelled the length of the country, the entire staff of DoC's Kaitaia office, senior firefighters from Rural Fire and the Fire Service's Muriwhenua area office, the owner of Salt Air, and members of Karikari hapu Te Whanau Moana and Te Rorohuri.
They drove over rough roads to a cluster of homes which had miraculously escaped the fire, then gathered on the beach for a blessing by Archdeacon Timoti Flavell and a moving welcome by Robert Brown, one of the five people the men had been trying to rescue that fateful night.
"I want to thank everyone for coming here to remember these two great men, who gave their lives trying to help others," Mr Brown said.
Mr Macrae's brother, Alan Macrae, recalled the conditions of a year earlier, when a similarly powerful wind was blowing but in the opposite direction, carrying thick clouds of smoke out over the bay.
"There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about William - but at the same time I think of all the people who've put their arms out and helped us," he said.
Family members completed the ceremony by throwing wreaths into the sea from the rocks and from a boat over the crash site.
They gathered at Mr Macrae and Jenny Larson's home in Awanui on Friday evening to share a meal and their memories.