Some residents have returned to the Sydney Olympic Park high rise that authorities feared was at risk of collapse but it will be a grim Christmas for other residents after 51 units were deemed unsafe.
Engineers and the building's managers remained at the 38-level building overnight but emergency services have since left after declaring there are no longer concerns of the tower collapsing.
Emergency services were called to the site on Monday afternoon following reports residents had heard and seen cracking in a wall throughout the morning.
About 300 people from more than 150 units in the 392-apartment Opal Tower and neighbouring buildings were evacuated amidst fears the brand-new high rise could collapse.
Police also evacuated 55 children from a nearby childcare centre and a one-kilometre exclusion zone was put in place.
Fire & Rescue NSW Urban Search and Rescue officers and specialist engineers, as well as the building's designers and managers, worked late into the night to assess the building.
Just after midnight on Christmas Day, residents of the units that had been declared safe were allowed to return home.
Residents of the 51 units that were considered unsafe were escorted back to gather their belongings. They've made their own arrangements for accommodation, according to NSW Police.
Fire & Rescue NSW superintendent Adam Dewberry told AAP the strata manager would be working with the insurer and builders to fix the issue, but he wasn't sure what work would be happening on Tuesday.
He said a local exclusion zone remained in the area of Opal Tower but all roads and public transport had returned to normal.
