The Lenihan family from Narooma were breathing more easily in the emergency centre at Dickson College in Canberra.
They fled their home town at 5am on Friday - two adults, four children and two dogs in a Nissan Patrol - and reached Canberra mid-morning.
The reason for the drive to safety was Jack's asthma and the availability of oxygen.
They woke up at 2am in a state of worry about how the coming days would unfold, with the possibility of shortages of electricity, fuel and even medical supplies.
Three hours later, they were on the road. "We got the last 30 litres of diesel in Narooma," said Mr Lenihan.
Friday was clear of smoke in the ACT compared with Thursday but they still felt the city was better for asthmatics than the South Coast because of the availability of medical oxygen.
"We were three days without power. Nobody knew what was going on. Our plan originally was to stay but the more meetings we went to, the more ferocious it looked like getting," said Mrs Lenihan.
They ended up at the Dickson College centre and were sitting on cushions wondering what to do next. They had nowhere to stay on Friday night.
They were surprised that the motels were so full because of the Summernats car festival.
But stay they will. "We've just come here until it's all over. The whole South Coast is just preparing for disaster. It's going to get messy on Saturday," said Mr Lenihan.
Other families stayed overnight in Canberra and then moved on. Campervans were parked in the city as people headed home from the coast.
One convoy of five vehicles parked outside The Canberra Times on their way from Merimbula to the Yarra Valley.
"The last few days have been horrendous," said Troy Finnen.
The families saw what had happened in Mallacoota where people were trapped by encircling fire, and had been debating whether to leave. Then the police told them to go so they went on Thursday afternoon, reaching Canberra in the evening.
"They said 'we are asking holiday-makers to leave. We need to look after the town and we don't need extra people here'," Mr Finnen said. The journey north to Canberra was "intense", Mr Finnen said.
