Sitting out the front of his takeaway coffee shop on one of Perth's popular cafe strips, Rafael Schmidtt's voice is calm, but the words he chooses are dire.
"It is like a bad dream," he says.
"It wasn't great before. The economy was not doing very well.
"But now, it is a disaster."
The empty streets of the usually bustling Mount Lawley cafe strip are mirrored across the city in Victoria Park, Leederville and Fremantle.
Looking around at a near-empty Beaufort Street strip, Rafael thinks for a moment about how best to describe it.
"It's like a war," he says.
There are similarly eerie scenes across Perth, as cafe, bar and restaurant workers stack chairs, drag tables inside and tape "takeaway only" signs to their shopfront windows in time for the 12:00pm deadline.
Staff in tears as doors close
Over the road, the popular Mary Street Bakery, which is ordinarily heaving around this time of day, sits empty.
As she starts to talk about their loyal customers and the many staff who no longer have jobs, operations manager Lydia Cairns breaks down in tears.
"On a Monday we would usually have businesspeople coming down here for coffees and cakes, we'd have mums after the school run, uni students, people from the community," she says.
"We have a great bunch of older regulars who come in at certain times of the day.
"This is what hospitality is about for me, providing that space where people can gather."
Lydia's tears come rushing back and her colleague Becca Neofitou does her best to take over, while fighting back her own emotions.
"This job is such a personable one because at every table you give so much of yourself," Becca says.
"There are some people who come here and we are the only people they see all day.
"There is a couple that comes in all the time. He is disabled and his wife has to help him eat.
"They come in here every single day. Now they are not going to be able to do that."
Last drinks at Leederville landmark
Roberto Pizzino and his cousin Enzo Battiola are the only customers at Foam Coffee Bar in Leederville.
Enzo is visiting from Sicily.
He should have been back in his home country by now, but he doesn't know when he will return.
Roberto says he thought it was important that they enjoy a coffee at one of his favourite cafes while they still could.
"We have to still enjoy life and sitting down to have a coffee is a nice way to watch the world pass by," he says.
"What a world it has become."
