In-plane biaxial tensile test is an alternative to determine the forming limit diagram (FLD) for evaluating the formability of metal sheets, in which cruciform specimens are deformed under the plane stress condition. Given that strong dependence of an FLD on both the strain state and the strain path, it is critical to realise the deformations under various proportional strain paths in the in-plane biaxial tensile test. In this study, three different stretching modes in a previously developed planar biaxial tensile rig, called stretching model-I, stretching model-II and stretching model-III, were applied to deform one type of cruciform specimen for AA5754 under an expected strain state of the equi-biaxial tension, the plane-strain tension and the uniaxial tension, respectively. The digital image correlation (DIC) technique was adopted for strain field measurement. By analysing the ratio and the linearity of the strain paths in the different zones within the gauge area of the cruciform specimens, it was found that, by using the stretching mode-I, the equi-biaxial strain state was obtained only in the central zone, and the corresponding strain path is linear. The plane-strain states were not achieved in any zones within the gauge area by using the stretching mode-II, and the corresponding strain paths are nonlinear. By using the stretching mode-III, the fracture occurred in a zone within the gauge area where the strain state is uniaxial and the corresponding strain path is linear, while the strain state in the central zone is close to the pure shear and the strain path is nonlinear.