Sydney has done it again, welcoming in the New Year in a blaze of brilliant colour as revellers rewarded the city with some of their best behaviour yet.
Packs of exuberant twenty-somethings broke into spontaneous dance-offs while couples locked lips as a red waterfall of fireworks cascaded from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and special effects turned the structure into an Aboriginal flag during the $7 million party.
Despite prime vantage spots on the city's harbour foreshore filling up early on Thursday afternoon, police say few of the crowds got out of hand.
"With only a few exceptions, the vast majority of people in the city for New Year's Eve behaved safely, sensibly and responsibly," Commissioner Mick Fuller said.
Officers made 30 arrests out of the 1.6 million partygoers who flocked to the city to ring in 2016.
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Those who misbehaved included a 57-year-old man who allegedly made a hoax bomb threat on Sydney's North Shore just after midnight.
A 21-year-old man was also charged for allegedly throwing a bottle at a female police officer's head during an incident at a service station in Shalvey in the city's west around 1am.
At least half of the other arrests were drug related.
"Having 2500 additional police (meant) there was no threat to having the lockout laws relaxed for one night," Commissioner Fuller added.
Paramedics, meanwhile, reported a busy night with most of their calls related to violence or for patient's suffering extreme intoxication and related injuries such as falling from roofs.
NSW Ambulance said it responded to more than 3000 calls for help between 4pm New Year's Eve and 5am on New Year's Day.
As partygoers nursed headaches on Friday, around 350 council workers worked through the night to clean up the mess left from the biggest party of the year.
Sydney City Lord Mayor Clover Moore said at least 60 tonnes of waste - or half an Olympic-size pool's worth of rubbish - was cleared.
She said she was equally impressed by how "civilised" revellers were.
"It's a great relief for me to come here the morning after New Year and say that everything was incredibly successful," she told reporters on Friday.
She said was convinced the city had again cemented its world-famous status for being one of the best spots to celebrate the New Year.
"It's quite magic, and I think anyone that looks at it on a television overseas (wants) to come here the following year," she said.
