In tens of thousands of households around Australia, fear remains ever-present.
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Women in relationships live in fear of violence, are subjected to emotional coercion, financial servitude, are sexually subjugated, and fear being deprived of access to their children and loved ones.
Here in the ACT, the problem is as prevalent as elsewhere.
Sit in on court cases and the hidden volume of family violence which occurs behind Canberra's closed doors becomes readily apparent with men assaulting their partners, breaching protection orders and even hunting their partners down when they flee the family home and seek safe refuge.
In a study by the Institute of Criminology of known domestic violence offenders and protection order respondents, men accounted for between 75 and 94 per cent of all offenders. Men were the perpetrators in around five of every six domestic violence cases recorded by police.
However, the latest data from the National Community Attitudes Survey revealed a shocking gap in understanding domestic violence.
The victim-blaming we thought was behind us continues and, astonishingly, around four in 10 Australians wrongly believed men and women were equally likely to commit domestic violence.
One-third believed women used sexual assault claims to "get back" at men. And nearly 40 per cent agreed women made up or exaggerated claims of domestic violence to gain an advantage in custody battles.
There was a skewed attitude, too, toward how and where such violence happens; a distorted belief that "yes, it happens, but it doesn't happen here". ACT police and the judiciary would beg to differ.
In 2018, Canberra was shocked and angered when it woke to hear that 28-year-old mother of three, Tara Costigan, had been holding her newborn child when she was brutally murdered in her home by her axe-wielding ex-partner Marcus Rappel.
Three years before her death she had applied for a domestic violence order against Rappel. Ultimately, the system failed her.
A review of protection orders followed thereafter, and a raft of recommendations for change were made.
And yet an assessment of progress a few years later found victims were still not as supported as they should be, and that more research was needed to identify "the cracks that allow FV offenders to continue to exert control, including how these abuses take place".
The NCAS survey found attitudes towards gender inequality and sexual violence have improved, albeit slowly. And there was a much better understanding now of how coercion wasn't necessarily just physical and emotional, but also financial.
Parents and educators have important roles in bringing about change, and it must start early. YMCA Canberra chief executive Frances Crimmins says by the time young people reach high school "the value sets are already entrenched".
However, the Australian Institute for Family Studies has charted significant progress in recruiting youth ambassadors as agents of change. Its studies found peer-to-peer conversations build a better understanding of respectful relationships.
But the complexity of gender-based violence can be difficult for young people to convey and for their peers to grasp, so these programs need training, adult support and a stable funding base.
Changing hearts and minds must start early, or the domestic violence problems of this generation will perpetuate.
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