New Year's Eve is one of the safest nights to hit the town in Sydney, police say, noting a smattering of arrests among the harbourside crowd of an estimated one million people.
Thirty five people were arrested in a police operation from 4pm on Monday until 3am on Tuesday, facing a combined 43 charges, of which half were drug-related.
Acting Deputy Commissioner Mark Walton says there was "a really small amount" of violence associated with the crowds and related activities, and the event dynamic is "completely different" compared to 20 years ago.
'One of our safest evenings'
"It really is amongst our safest evenings in the city now, on New Year's Eve," he told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon.
"They're family groups, they're people that are here to enjoy that experience for New Year's Eve. They're not just coming in to sort of drink till you drop, that we did see in the past."
Six people were charged with affray, another six with offensive behaviour, four more with assaulting police and two others with common assault while one person was charged with unlawfully firing off fireworks.
Paramedics received almost 2500 calls to jobs across the state but NSW Ambulance Chief Superintendent Ian Johns says the night was "as expected" involving 140 assaults and patients intoxicated with alcohol and drugs.
Extra resources deployed
Two people were treated for burns suffered from fireworks and one man died when a car rolled and caught fire, he said.
"Last night was really about on song with other New Year's Eves," he said.
"It's a busy, busy night. It really is well off the charts in relation to activity but we have such great planning and extra resources on, it allows us to absorb some of that extra activity."
A number of people were treated for fractures and injuries sustained from falls from walls, fences and wharves.
Storm cells dumped heavy rain over the massive crowds gathered around Sydney Harbour early in the evening but blew over in time for the 9pm and midnight fireworks, while lightning damage to the train network caused severe delays for many on their trek home.
Authorities want to 'move on' after typo
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the start of celebrations was "tumultuous" but thankfully the rain cleared.
However, there was one small hiccup during the otherwise smooth celebrations when one pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was illuminated with the words "Happy New Year 2018!".
"It was a mistake but what we can clarify is that it is actually 2019," the mammoth event's executive producer, Anna McInerney, said.
"We just laughed about it, these things happen. It takes 15 months to organise an event of this size and scale. Obviously we weren't pleased, but you move on."
Queensland police applaud behaviour of revellers
Queensland police have applauded the behaviour of New Year's Eve revellers across the state.
Thousands of people crowded Brisbane for a spectacular fireworks display and police said there were no major arrests.
Across the city, Fortitude Valley and South Brisbane areas officers charged 60 people with 60 mostly anti-social or alcohol-related offences.
Sixteen people were charged with public nuisance, three with public urination, 14 with drug-related matters, eight with obstructing police, four for possessing a weapon, two for possessing stolen property and one with wilful damage.
Police also issued nine liquor evictions, six street infringement notices for offences such as public nuisance and urination and issued six banning notices.
Seventeen marine and one general traffic infringement notices were also handed out.
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