Wearing helmets and clutching shields, the officers turned up at the site as dawn broke, ready to tackle the travellers who last night said 'this time it's war - bring it on'.
As the officers arrived a warning klaxon was sounded three times to notify travellers and their supporters on the site that the authorities had arrived.
One activist, who was preparing to lock herself to a wrecked car forming part of the barricade inside Dale Farm, said this morning that she expected police and bailiffs to enter the site 'any way they can'.
'The fact that police and bailiffs are being paid millions of pounds to tear families out of their homes is a disgrace,' she said.
The campsite was in lockdown today as hundreds of bailiffs finally prepared to clear the site after they lost their battle to stay on the site.
Last minute work to reinforce the barricades behind the main gate at the site in Essex was carried out yesterday.
Yesterday two cars and a former Russian military vehicle were parked behind the gate. Piles of wood and bricks were piled up at key points as the complex was secured.
Despite the potential for ugly confrontations, sources at Basildon Council were quietly confident their ￡8 million operation - ￡18 million if the police presence is included – was better placed to succeed than on September 19 when the emergency injunction was approved.
Dozens of activists have returned to the site in the hope of taking part in the 'Battle of Basildon'. One shouted: 'This time it’s war - bring it on.'
Protesters have sent out emails and text messages to sympathetic friends in an attempt to increase their numbers.
But the number of supporters inside the site has fallen from more than 100 a month ago, when the council was first expected to begin the clearance, to less than 50 now. A similar number of travellers remain in their homes.
Residents on the site are expecting bailiffs to arrive sometime after 8am today after a final farcical attempt in the Court of Appeal to stop them moving in failed.
Dozens of bailiffs arrived at a compound neighbouring the site for last minute preparations. Two diggers and a crane were on standby.
At a nearby police compound, van loads of officers had been arriving throughout the day.
At the earlier meeting, the council said it had only intended to discuss health and safety, not to negotiate.
Campaigner Gratton Puxon said: 'We raised health concerns about a number of residents, including one who needed medical attention last night.
'We also tried to discuss how elderly travellers will be able to access legal homes, which will stay, if roads and hard standings are destroyed. As things stand the council will not budge and can move in at any time and there is no hope of a resolution."
Tony Ball, leader of Basildon Council, said: 'We now believe that those who want to leave peacefully have already done so and those who are left have made it clear that they have no intention of co-operating with the council.
'Resistance and violence as some are now suggesting will be in nobody's interest - especially not the travellers or their families. We now must get on with the difficult job of clearing Dale Farm in as safe and dignified a manner as possible - and that is what we will now do.'
The clearance of 54 unauthorised plots, home to about 80 families, follows a decade-long row over the development of the green belt site.
Last week the travellers lost a High Court bid to stop the eviction and on Monday they were refused the chance to appeal against the ruling.
Len Gridley, 52, who has spent a decade fighting for the travellers to be evicted from land at the bottom of his garden, said he was cautiously optimistic that the clearance would start soon. ‘I think they might actually have reached a point where it could happen but until I have waved goodbye to that last caravan I will never be sure,’ he said.
‘We have been at this point already before and then the travellers have another trick up their sleeve so we shall see.’
Dale Farm resident Kathleen McCarthy added: 'The lawyers say this is the end. We'll have to fight the bailiffs off. We're already in lockdown.'
Hundreds of bailiffs plan to start bulldozing Dale Farm tomorrow, after the travellers finally lost their court battle to stay on the illegal site.
A Court of Appeal judge yesterday put an end to their farcical attempts to stop their eviction, following years of protracted legal wrangling.
Bailiffs and police officers will begin moving into key positions next to Europe's largest illegal traveller site today.
A source close to the ￡22million operation said officials will attempt to gauge the strength
of the opposition on Tuesday before forcing their way through the barricades on Wednesday.
Last night menacing anarchists living on the site in Crays Hill, Essex, went into 'lockdown' to stop bailiffs entering.
The huge metal gates at the front of the site were locked and every other entry point was heavily fortified with high metal fencing, barbed wire, gas cylinders, car tyres and old washing machines.
Dozens of activists returned to the site yesterday in the hope of taking part in the 'Battle of Basildon'. One shouted: 'This time it’s war - bring it on.'
Protesters have sent out emails and text messages to sympathetic friends in an attempt to increase their numbers.
A month ago Basildon Council, which is responsible for clearing the greenbelt site, sent hundreds of bailiffs to Dale Farm to start the eviction.
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