Two months ago, Samuel* was among 37 babies facing imminent removal to a life in limbo on Nauru. That was when his picture, and images of many of the others facing removal, appeared on the front page of Fairfax Media newspapers.

More than 50 older children, who had all flown to Australia in family groups because they, or a parent or sibling, needed medical treatment were similarly slated for a swift return to the remote, tiny dot of a country in the Pacific Ocean.

Now they are all out of the mainland detention centres and enjoying the first taste of the freedom their parents were seeking when they sought refuge in Australia.

This is a victory for people power, in the form of the Let Them Stay campaign waged by the advocacy organisation GetUp! and the Melbourne-based Human Rights Legal Centre.

The campaign saw around 115 church groups offer sanctuary to asylum seekers if there was an attempt to force them back to Nauru, school principals and doctors speak out and state premiers declare a willingness to settle the families and children.

It is also a victory that just might reflect Malcolm Turnbull's intention to inject a measure of compassion into Tony Abbott's uncompromising border protection regime. We'll see.

But it is only a qualified victory, because the threat of return still hangs over the 148 people who have been released into the community since the campaign began with a High Court defeat – and 71 of the asylum seekers brought back to Australia for medical treatment remain in detention.

The threat of return to the place she says terrifies her prompts Samuel's mother to cry in the midst of an interview with Fairfax Media.

Naomi*, who has described Nauru as "hell" and "the end of the world" says she still has nightmares about her year on Nauru and will fear being sent back "until the end of our life".

The difference between what she and her husband endured on Nauru and life in Sydney in the last three weeks, she says, is near impossible to describe.

"There are a lot of good things. If I tell them, one by one, it will take a long time," she says.

"One is that we don't see [security] officers. We can leave when we wish. We can go shopping. We couldn't do so in detention centre."

And Samuel? "He is very happy. He loves the food I am fixing. He didn't love the food in detention centre. Before we had only one very small room and he couldn't play. Now we have a home."

Before the High Court ruled against a challenge to government's offshore detention regime, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton announced that the transfer of the babies and children to Nauru would leave just seven children in detention in Australia – a number he was determined to reduce to zero.

"The majority of remaining children in detention are due to return to Nauru and the other few remaining cases are the most difficult, where there may be a security issue with the parent for example," he told The Daily Telegraph on January 18.

Now he is on track to achieve his zero children in mainland objective, without sending scores of babies and children to Nauru.

GetUp!'s human rights campaign director, Shen Narayanasamy, has no doubt the overwhelming reason for this is the public campaigning of thousands of people across the country.

The Human Rights Law Centre's director of legal advocacy, Daniel Webb, agrees, saying the campaign mobilised new sections of the community "by making clear that, for all the white noise about borders and boats, this is actually about people".

"Four months ago I sat opposite many of these people as they cried and told us of the horror of their indefinite detention, and their fears of a return to Nauru," Ms Narayanasamy says.

"We are thrilled to see Mr Turnbull take a step towards a more compassionate approach by releasing many of these people into the community."

Among those still in detention is a 29-year-old Iranian who was transferred to Australia because suffered debilitating headaches on Nauru. In detention in Darwin, the headaches continue.

A qualified welder and talented artist, he says: "I would love to be in community and be a part of community. I'd love to be useful for Australian people."

Among those released is a Sri Lanka mother and her three sons whose boat was intercepted at sea. The family were among those held for 29 days on a Customs ship before arriving at the Cocos Islands and being transferred to Nauru last August.

The mother suffered horrific burns before fleeing Sri Lanka that were aggravated by the heat and humidity of Nauru. Now she is preparing to celebrate her eldest boy's 13th birthday and is overwhelmed by the kindness of her new neighbours.

For several months, the boys were taken to school from the Broadmeadows detention centre in a white van and escorted to the gates by burly security guards. Now, they either walk unaccompanied or ride their scooters.

Paul Dingle, the principal of Glenroy College, where the two older brothers are students, was among those to speak out in support of the family and the other asylum seekers facing removal to Nauru. He describes their release into the community as a great outcome.

"Maybe this is a little bit about compassion winning through," Mr Dingle says. "It's a good move and hopefully we can continue to build on it."

* Not their real names

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