It was a hard fought and won achievement by a community who buckled down and stayed home.

No matter how short and sharp they are, or how often we live through them, lockdowns don't get easier.

The cost of stay-at-home orders are borne across the community

For individuals it means denying your instinct to be sociable and isolating yourself in your home away from those you hold dear.

For businesses, the financial cost of closing, reopening and losing stock is steep.

And the mental cost perhaps even steeper.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The end of lockdown is a cause of celebration, but we must not rejoice in a way which endangers the freedoms we worked so hard to claw back.

It's something we need to bear in mind now, on the eve of Grand Final celebrations, more than ever.

As much as we might want to get together en masse to reunite after lockdown, forget our troubles and have our usual Grand Final day parties and events, we cannot.

Unfortunately, with the Delta variant still very much a part of our lives and the threat of another lockdown constantly looming, it is not possible or safe for us to have mass gatherings.

The risk of another lockdown, or worse still a COVID outbreak like that faced by Shepparton, is too high.

In the lead-up to Christmas our businesses need a chance to operate uninterrupted in the hopes of recouping their losses.

Our residents, including children, need the chance to socialise, in a controlled and safe manner, to keep spirits up.

2021 has been a long, hard year, on the back of a shocking 2020.

In many ways, we're not where we hoped we'd be in 2021.

But for now restrictions remain an essential part of keeping our communities safe.

So we all need to do our part and abide by them, in the hope next year we'll be back at our usual Grand Final day celebrations surrounded by those we love.