The campaigning stopped yesterday.

On the eve of a bailout referendum that Europe and the rest of the world will watch closely and not without concern, voters in Greece appeared to be evenly split over whether to defy creditors and push for better repayment terms or essentially seek new political leadership to find a compromise.

Today Greeks will be asked to tick one of two boxes on their referendum ballot papers: "not approved/no" and - below it - "approved/yes".

As Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis yesterday accused Athens' creditors of "terrorism", the country braced itself for the culmination of this high stakes stand off.

Varoufakis himself was in combative mood, insisting that the so-called "troika" of creditors - the European Union (EU), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) wanted a "yes" vote to win so they could humiliate the Greeks.

"Why did they force us to close the banks? To instil fear in people. And spreading fear is called terrorism," he said.

He added that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras would still reach an agreement with creditors if the result was "No", and that banks in Greece would reopen on Tuesday whatever the outcome.

As the last of the country's political rallies wound up before the 24 hour pre-election period of purdah when campaigning is banned, some Greeks were less than convinced.

Evgenia Bouzala, a Greek born in Germany, said she was considering shutting down her olive oil export business because of the financial turmoil.

"I don't think we can keep going. Look at what happened in the last three days. Imagine if that lasts another six months," she said.

"A `yes' vote would bring a caretaker government and that would probably be better ... We have to start over."

Bouzala was one of about 22,000 people gathered outside the Athens Panathenian stadium for the "yes" rally, waving Greek and European Union flags and chanting "Greece, Europe, Democracy."

Rallies for both campaigns were also held in 10 other Greek cities before the purdah period and the drama remained high in the final hours of campaigning.

In the once-thriving port of Perama, unemployment rates are now among the country's highest in an area hit hard by the economic crisis over the last five years. At the entrance to the docks stands a statue of a worker brandishing a spanner, a monument to a proud shipbuilding past. But jobs in Perama are few and far between and unemployment at the shipyard has reached 90%. Speaking to foreign journalists, a union representative there said that work was scarce.

"We are struggling. We are sinking, Greece is sinking," the man said asking not to be named.

In the capital Athens meanwhile rallies took place a half-mile apart late Friday, and Tsipras made his final pitch on a stage set up for a campaign rock concert outside parliament.

"This is not a protest. It is a celebration to overcome fear and blackmail," he told a crowd of 30,000 as they roared oxi, oxi- "no, no."

Tsipras urged people to vote "a proud no" to European creditors' proposals, and "live with dignity in Europe".

The 40-year-old Tsipras is gambling the future of his new left wing government on today's snap poll - insisting a "no" vote will strengthen his hand to negotiate a third bailout with better terms. If he loses, Tsipras has strongly indicated he would step aside.

At Friday's "no" rally, Athens resident Maria Antoniou held a handmade sign, reading "oxi." "We have to strengthen Tsipras. It's not his fault we are bankrupt," she said.

"He doesn't have the mandate to take tougher measures and now we are giving that to him. It's not true this is a vote on the euro. It's a vote to change course and stay in the euro, and Tsipras is our best hope," she said.

The country's top court stayed in session till late afternoon Friday before rejecting a petition to declare the referendum illegal. Political party leaders, personalities, and even church elders weighed in with impassioned pleas to vote "no" or "yes" on the airwaves and social media.

In a rare public declaration, 16 former armed forces leaders wrote an appeal to citizens to show "calm and national unity."

A series of polls published Friday at the end of a frantic weeklong campaign showed the two sides evenly split. An Ipsos survey put "Yes" supporters at 44% and "No" at 43%. Polls also showed an overwhelming majority of people - about 75 percent - want Greece to remain in the euro currency.

Much of the ambiguity over the referendum arises from the complicated question on the ballot paper: "Must the agreement plan submitted by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to the Eurogroup of 25 June, 2015, and comprised of two parts which make up their joint proposal, be accepted? The first document is titled `reforms for the completion of the current program and beyond' and the second `Preliminary debt sustainability analysis.'"

"People don't even understand the question," Athens Mayor George Kaminis told supporters at the "yes" rally.

"We have been dragged into a pointless referendum that is dividing the people and hurting the country."

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told journalists on Friday that an agreement with creditors "is more or less done" and that the only issue left is debt relief.

But Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble told his country's Bild daily that any negotiations after the Greek vote "will take a while."

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the eurozone finance ministers' group, noted that negotiations had been broken off.

"There are no new proposals from our side and, whatever happens, the future for Greece will be extremely tough," he said.

"To get Greece back on track and the economy out of the slump, tough decisions will have to be taken and every politician that says that won't be the case following a `no' vote is deceiving his population.

Today however it will be the Greek people themselves who will take first decisive step in determining their country's economic future.