Come what may, Sydney was determined to close the old year not with a whimper, but with a bang; with some 100,000 big bangs as the night sky was pierced by steepling sets of brocades, comets, fountains and glitter mines, and the international space station.
Such high-technicalities may have been lost on most late-night revellers, but as former New Year's Eve director, Leo Schofield, put it, Sydneysiders never tire of fireworks. "They're one of mankind's universal joy-bringers," he said.