A Call to Prayer won’t be answered by 50 people slain in two New Zealand mosques a week ago but it will be heard around the world.

Families and the community have returned to the scene of the terror attacks on Christchurch’s Masjid al Noor and the Linwood mosque for the first time for prayers on Friday.

Police and contractors raced to prepare it in time for Islam’s sacred day of worship, which will include a memorial for the dead.

Two minutes of silence followed the 1.30pm Islamic call to prayer, which will be broadcast on television and radio.

“We appreciate the support that the people of New Zealand have given to us at this time, and the opportunity to do this,” community leader and head of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand, Mustafa Farouk, said.

“We are so happy that this prayer will be broadcast to the entire world so that everyone can be a part of it.”

Thousands have shown their support outside the mosque, with many planning to hold hands in a human wall in a show of solidarity and reassurance.

Thirty foreign dignitaries were in attendance, as well as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who will speak.

On Thursday, she announced all military-style semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles would be banned with immediate effect in the hope such a tragedy never happens again.

Legislation to introduce the ban, which also includes high-capacity magazines and parts that can turn legal guns into assault weapons, is expected to be introduced by April 11.

But from 3pm on Thursday, the weapons became illegal under interim measures.

“In short, every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack on Friday will be banned in this country,” Ms Ardern said, confident the laws will have majority support across the country.

Opposition Leader Simon Bridges said his party would back the changes, as have police and farmers, who make up the majority of the nation’s gun owners.

After an initial amnesty period, including a buyback estimated to cost upward of $NZ100 million ($A97 million), anyone still found with the guns would be prosecuted, Police Commissioner Mike Bush warned.

He also announced that all 50 victims of the attack had been formally identified and their bodies could be released to family and friends.

More than a dozen were buried on Wednesday and Thursday, including 71-year-old grandfather Haji-Daoud Nabi, whose final words “Hello, brother” were to welcome into the mosque the man who would kill him.

Motorbikes roared alongside the hearse carrying his body, shrouded in white cloth, to the burial in front of a crowd of more than 1000 mourners.

Students from Cashmere High School returned for a second time, to farewell their 14-year-old schoolmate Sayyad Ahmad Milne a day after the burial of another friend, Hamza Mustafa, 15.

A third teen, 17-year-old Muhammad Haziq Mohd-Tarmizi, was buried only hours after being officially identified as one of the dead.

More burials are expected in the coming days.