They were joined by Jeremy Fernandez, resplendent in a blue ensemble so vivid he doubled as a navigation light for drunken skippers on the harbour. Fernandez girded the nation’s loins for Sydney WorldPride coming up in February, aided by a taped cameo from Kylie Minogue. Courtney Act summoned the pride mood with Over The Rainbow and ONJ’s Xanadu, with the bridge lit up appropriately as a backdrop, before romping through the Divinyls’ I Touch Myself and AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long.

Other musical highlights included country star Morgan Evans, who beamed his way through two of his own songs plus a rollicking cover of Don’t Stop, a tribute to the late Christine McVie. Ball Park Music and Electric Fields also owned the stage late in the night with a jubilant run of iconic dance tunes.

Then Donovan and the rest of the night’s performers delivered a roaring rendition of This Is Me, before handing over the countdown to the big bang at midnight to Tones and I. She, as always, smashed it out of the park with a five-song set.

Post fireworks, the wonderful crew from Pub Choir ended proceedings with Auld Lang Syne. Almost normal? It was even better than that, and about time too.

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