A seemingly endless queue of cars inched along a freeway in eastern Melbourne yesterday, as traffic helicopters captured the scene from above. Shoppers were flocking to the annual November sales at Chadstone mall, Australia's largest shopping centre.
The scene was markedly different from weeks ago, when the city centre was mostly shut as Melbourne endured one of the world's strictest Covid-19 lockdowns following an outbreak that included a cluster of cases linked to a butcher's at the mall.
But those days of curfews and retail closures now seem a distant memory. In Melbourne, and across Australia, the pandemic has largely been brought under control - and life is returning to normal.
Restaurants and pubs are full. The summer cricket season started yesterday, with a socially-distanced crowd of 20,000 attending a match between India and Australia in Sydney. From this week, residents in Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, are no longer required to wear masks outdoors, while the state of New South Wales began allowing up to 3,000 people to gather at outdoor events.
At a shopping centre in Sydney, chief executive of Retail Apparel Group Gary Novis described yesterday as "unbelievable".
"It's the busiest I've seen it all year," he told The Sydney Morning Herald. "We wouldn't have thought six months ago that we'd be here now."
Yesterday, Australia recorded seven new cases of Covid-19, all of them international travellers in quarantine. Aside from the state of South Australia, which is gradually overcoming a small outbreak, no state or territory in Australia has recorded a new local case in more than two weeks.
Since the pandemic began, governments in Australia have enforced strict lockdowns, social distancing rules and border closures. In total, Australia has recorded 27,872 cases and 907 deaths.
Significantly, the state of Victoria - which registered 73 per cent of all Covid-19 cases in Australia - marked 28 days without any community transmission yesterday, which effectively means it has eliminated the virus.
Welcoming the news, Victoria's government said it had "achieved something precious", with its rare suppression of a large-scale outbreak likened to similar successes in China and Singapore.
"Today is a big day, a milestone day in what has been a really challenging year," said state Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan. "We can all feel really pleased and proud of the effort that each and every Victorian has made."
But she added: "The pandemic is not over, there is still a way to go, we still have to wait and see the impacts a vaccine brings."
Across Australia, internal borders are being opened - with travellers from Sydney and the state of Victoria to be allowed to return to Queensland - a popular holiday destination - from next Tuesday.
Flights are resuming between Sydney and Melbourne, previously one of the world's busiest routes but at a standstill for four months due to Melbourne's outbreak.
There is now talk about easing strict international travel curbs.
The economy is also showing promising signs of rebound. Last month, there was a rise in both the number of new jobs and the number of hours worked.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison this week told reporters: "Australia is in a handful of countries that stand out not just for how we've suppressed the virus, but how we have mitigated the economic impact on Australia."
