Tharwa locals are calling on wider Canberra to support the struggling village, which the ACT's rural fire chief said "dodged a bullet" when it escaped major bushfire damage.
Mapping issued by the territory's Emergency Services Agency predicted the Orroral Valley fire could engulf Tharwa last Saturday.
Rural Fire Service chief officer, Joe Murphy, said the biggest challenge crews had to face to defy the prediction was "erratic fire behaviour".
"Did Tharwa dodge a bullet? Yes," Mr Murphy said on Friday afternoon.
"The Saturday blow-up day was such a massive day, [with] big winds, low humidity ... and fires travelling in directions that were not normal.
"[Tharwa wasn't damaged by the bushfire because of] good planning, good actions by the ESA, and good reactions by the Tharwa community."
Mr Murphy said the Orroral Valley fire had spread to NSW by Friday, but ACT fire crews would work with NSW crews to contain it.
ACT Parks and Conservation Service executive, Justin Foley, said the agency would focus on Namadgi National Park's recovery in the coming weeks.
The ESA would have to verify the park was safe, before the ACT government could send in rapid assessment teams to look at fire damage.
"What we're expecting to find ... within the park [is] areas of habitat refuge that have not been impacted as much as others," Mr Foley said.
"That's an excellent footing to move forward from."
Mr Murphy said bushland near Tharwa had been "blacked out" by firefighters, and the village was safe to visit. Road blocks outside Tharwa were recently removed - much to the gratitude of Tharwa general store owner and local community association president, Kevin Jeffery.
Mr Jeffery said the community was working hard to attract tourists, and the eventual recovery of the Namadgi National Park would bring some relief.
But local businesses, including the general store, had been struggling for years, he said; Tharwa had been "a bit forgotten", and it was up to Canberrans to help bring the community back to financial stability.
"We had not only the 2003 fires but the Tharwa bridge closure and repair, which took a number of years," Mr Jeffery said.
"The turnover of the antique shop [within the general store] went down 70 per cent after that and it's starting to recover now.
"We'll do what we can, but we need support from the outside as well."
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Mr Jeffery said he had been frustrated by the road blocks outside Tharwa, which stopped the public accessing the village for several days. However, the bushfire threat meant people had feared for the village, and they had started to reach out and offer support on social media.
"It's certainly a positive note that people now know where Tharwa is," Mr Jeffery said.
"As a village and as farmers, we want to get over this and start building our community back into normality."
Minister for the Environment, Mick Gentleman, said the ACT government had put "a great deal" of resources into saving Tharwa from the Orroral Valley bushfire threat.
"It really is worthwhile to see it now come to a point where we can say welcome back to Tharwa, and come and enjoy Tharwa's hospitality," he said.
As of Friday afternoon, the Orroral Valley fire had burnt between 84,000 and 85,000 hectares of land.
