A global saga seemed to reach an end in Canberra last night. A man hunted by a superpower, loved and loathed by citizens of the world in equal measure, a former prisoner and now a free man, landed at the Fairbairn VIP RAAF airport before the gaze of journalists and supporters.
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But Assange's homecoming has been as mysterious as the man himself.
Stella Assange fronted media on Thursday morning with a clear objective - a pardon from the United States president.
She said her husband had effectively pleaded guilty "to journalism" rather than espionage.
Is there any more to the now-convicted criminal's Canberra trip?
Theory 1: Canberra is spooky
Not in a ghost-tour kind of way (sorry Tim the Yowie Man) but spooky in terms of espionage and diplomatic intrigue.
The instruments of national security and spycraft in Canberra will have had more than their share of involvement in the Assange case over the past 14 years.
So the capital's connection with intrigue and moments of diplomatic importance and skullduggery may have appealed to Assange and WikiLeaks, which is always in fundraising mode - especially now it has to pay a whopping US$500,000 (A$750,000) bill for the private jet via Saipan.
Even the choice of venue for last night's press conference - absent the man himself - had a certain Secret City cachet. East Hotel is directly across the road from the Kingston Hotel, once described as "the spies' pub".
Just up the street is the funeral parlour that was once a nest of ASIO spies keeping an eye on the Russian embassy just across Canberra Avenue.
If WikiLeaks and Assange wanted to tap into the spirit of intrigue, a cold winter's night in Canberra is as good as you'll get in this country.
Theory 2: It's all about Albanese
Stella Assange's "no comment" when asked by reporter Bageshri Savyasachi whether her husband would meet PM Anthony Albanese was instructive.
Surely a meeting between the PM who "saved my life" and Assange is the most plausible reason for him to come to Canberra?
The tricky thing is that, while Albanese is proud of his achievement in helping broker a deal with the US government to get Assange home, he has to be careful not to be too proud.
While some of the people who clamoured into East Hotel last night viewed Assange's arrival as being like Nelson Mandela's release from prison, the truth is many more are at best ambivalent about the man.
Albanese faces a dilemma of wanting to benefit from the goodwill of having "got the job done", but basking in it is politically and diplomatically fraught.
Will the two men meet? Will it be a big event at Parliament that answers the "why Canberra" question? Might it be a quiet ale at the Lodge out of the sight of the press. Assange managed to vanish from sight last night, so a discreet visit to the PM's residence could surely be achieved.
Theory 3: This is Assange territory
While Assange is a Queenslander, it's in Canberra that he's enjoyed more support than just about anywhere.
The network of cross-party political alliances that helped call for his release was formed here.
A network of citizens concerned about state overreach and secrecy - the kind of people who protested on behalf of Bernard Collaery and David McBride - is here.
In Canberra, Assange would have more people who think about the issues at play here - press freedom, national security - than just about anywhere and so coming here is more of a homecoming than it might first seem.
After last night's press conference at East Hotel, his wife Stella and lawyers will front the media pack again in Parliament today along with Independent MP Andrew Wilkie and the other co-convenors of the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group.
Along with Jennifer Robinson and Barry Pollack, Stella is expected to further prosecute the case for the US President to pardon Assange.
Then, of course, is the fact this is the home to the federal press gallery. WikiLeaks and Assange assert they are journalists, and where could you find more journalists per capita in the world than here?
Theory 4: And here's a fun one ...
Perhaps Assange just really likes the sound of Canberra?
Perhaps Andrew Barr's emissary to the world, Brendan Smyth, has all these years been quietly getting the word out that this is the place to be, even temporarily?
After all, a lot has changed here since Assange was locked up more than a decade ago. IKEA, Uniqlo, the Kingston Foreshore, the tram!
Surely it would not shock too much to see Assange and his entourage turn up in an Instagram post by Raku, the "it" venue for visiting celebrity cooks and musos.
Maybe, despite the freezing conditions, Assange just wanted to check out our "cool little capital".
