Wary Canberrans stayed at home or scaled back their celebrations as the Omicron COVID variant gripped the territory.
ACT police reported a much-reduced crowd of around 5000 people attending the New Year's Eve fireworks at Lake Burley Griffin on Friday night.
The expected crowd of between 30,000 to 50,000 people by the lake shore failed to eventuate, which resulted in a relaxed night for police.
No arrest were reported, and only a few underage drinkers were taken into protective custody, those issues resolved by releasing them into the care of their parents.
Detective Inspector Simon Coady said that police had staffed the event anticipating a much larger crowd but were a little surprised to find far fewer numbers than expected.
"We didn't see anywhere near the partygoers we expected," Inspector Coady said in his morning wrap-up of the evening's festivities.
"It was a far more subdued event than we traditionally see but that's to be expected in COVID times.
"The crowd was really well behaved.
"It was a really good event; we had people on both sides of the lake and there was plenty of room for everyone to spread out and get good vantage points for the fireworks.
"I think people are still a bit cautious about coming out for big crowd events because of the COVID environment but it was a really nice evening overall."
There were also no issues of significance to report on the roads of the capital overnight.
On the Sydney Harbour foreshore, crowd numbers attending the NYE fireworks were also reported to be well down on previous years but NSW police tactical teams had to be called to locations west of the city in Guildford and Auburn to disperse crowds where illegal fireworks were set off.
