Before sunrise, at 6am on Monday, Diggies at North Wollongong beach opened as usual to serve customers in the cafe for a few final hours before the latest government shut down came into force.
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On lower Crown Street Lee and Me did the same, with a few final patrons taking the chance to have a last sit down cafe breakfast, potentially for months.
Standing out the front of the business which has sustained her family since 2008, Naomi Hudson calmly served people from a new outdoor set up designed for social distancing.
Like all cafes which plan to stay open, the business became takeaway only from noon.
"We will do whatever is necessary because I don't want the government to say 'you guys aren't listening, now we're going to have to shut you down, which I think is what happened over the weekend'," she said.
"We're scared of the unknown, and what's going to come next. There's a lot of uncertainty."
She said the cafe had let go its part time and full time staff as it was unable to offer shifts for the foreseeable future.
In Crown Street Mall, with supermarkets and retail stores still allowed to open, many places did. But - barring Coles, which was still busier than normal despite stern directions from the Prime Minister and Premier than panic buying is unnecessary - most shops were lucky to have a single customer.
Outside Commonwealth Bank, under the direction of a security guard, customers queued in spaced out lines. Office workers with take away coffees stood the stipulated 1.5 metres apart.
At Centrelink, a queue snaked down the road - mimicking the situation around the country and thousands of people who have already lost their jobs tried to access welfare benefits.
Nearby, 18-year-old chef Paul Kennedy sat, face mask on, waiting at a bus stop to travel to Headlands Hotel in Austinmer to find out what the shut down would mean for his future work.
"I'm okay for now," he said. "All I can do is be patient and stay isolated."
At midday, pubs which had bothered to open called last drinks and closed their doors.
Smaller venues - the Throsby, Humber, Good Times Only, said farewell on social media, and restaurants changed to become takeaway outlets.
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