'Absolutely relieved': ACT residents return home after border deadlock

The first residents drove into the ACT shortly after 12.30pm on Thursday.

They were greeted by police at a so-called roadside reception centre in Hall who took their details and gave them a care package with food they could take into their 14-day quarantine.

All people who arrived had donned masks and were not allowed out of their cars.

There were 25 people expected to pass through the reception centre across 17 cars on Thursday, ACT Police Detective Superintendent Mick Calatzis said.

One of those was Anne Cahill Lambert. She arrived in Canberra at about 1.15pm, and said she was "absolutely relieved".

"We've been in a waiting room basically for nearly six days," she said.

While Ms Cahill Lambert was relieved, her dog Hunny, in the back seat, was far more excited and was definitely lapping up the media attention.

"Hunny is desperate to get out of the car," she said.

Ms Cahill Lambert told police she was dismayed at the process and questioned why federal politicians were allowed to travel to the ACT over the weekend via car but she was not.

"I said to the police officers, I [was] very embarrassed about how many resources have been put into this when it should have just been a simple process," she said.

"We should have done what the politicians did."

Joe Craddy was in one of the first cars to cross into the ACT. He said his stay in Wodonga was frustrating.

"I was staying with a friend [in Wodonga] and I was only a few kilometres from the border but not able to go anywhere, it wasn't fun," he said.

Another who did not speak to the waiting press mob conveyed his gratitude to Chief Minister Andrew Barr via a sign taped to his back window which said: "Andrew Barr for President."

The border issues began last Friday after NSW changed its border control measures. The new measures meant those who arrived from Victoria could only do so by air and would have to undergo a 14-day hotel quarantine.

It meant ACT residents who had exemptions to travel through NSW suddenly had their permits revoked.

The NSW and ACT governments had been locked in negotiations since last Friday.

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Mr Barr labelled the situation as regrettable.

But NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was unrepentant when asked on Tuesday and said she couldn't apologise for putting safety first in NSW.

A solution was finally reached on Wednesday.

The returning Canberrans were only allowed to stop at the South Gundagai McDonalds. It is a three-and-a-half hour drive from Wodonga to the ACT border.

Detective Superintendent Calatzis said 42 people had registered their intentions to come home as of 12pm on Thursday.

The Canberra Times understands there were about 100 people trapped at the border.

NSW Police assisted with the operation. Police monitored the McDonalds stop point and gave a briefing in Albury.

An ACT Police convoy had been floated as a possible solution at one stage but this was dismissed due to jurisdictional issues.

Detective Superintendent Calatzis said NSW and ACT police had worked well.

"The cooperation and operationalisation with NSW Police cannot be underscored," he said.