And our emergence from lockdown is certainly no "Freedom Day".

A few more people allowed in the house, a few more shops opening, some businesses taking on limited customers. Modest outdoor gatherings. Masks still mandatory in indoor areas, and travel beyond our borders still a no-no.

But look closer - these small lifts in COVID restrictions are a big deal - and the good vibes are palpable.

Those lucky enough to score a booking can get haircuts and eat a meal in a restaurant. There's less panic and stress around group numbers and children, or outdoor time limits.

And, most importantly, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.

This last lockdown hasn't been easy for many of us - it has been longer, stricter and more fraught with fear.

It came at the end of a long and fraught 18 months for Australia and for the world.

We may have been safe in our island fortress, but many businesses have suffered and families have remained separated.

And, like the last kilometre in a marathon, this final leg of our pandemic journey - and we hope this will be our last lockdown - has been in many ways the most difficult.

We have seen the ravages of the virus in less fortunate countries, as well as up close in Australian hospitals.

It seems impossible to remember a time when COVID-19 was an abstract, distant threat - an exotic virus in a distant land.

Now, it is a constant presence, having transformed our everyday lives, and our view of ourselves as a people and nation.

But with the lifting of some restrictions last week and more to come on Monday, the door to the future is finally opening, and we can start to look out at what the other side might feel like in the most concrete sense.

There will still be a need for vigilance as we move out of lockdown.

But in the meantime, as our horizons start to fill up with the hopes and plans of normal life, we can start to hope for a Christmas we can truly look forward to.

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