The great white shark may have disappeared but wild weather and big surf have rolled in to keep most of Newcastle's beaches closed.
The city's beaches officially reopened on Monday after a record nine days of closures due to repeated shark sightings.
A five-metre great white shark, nicknamed Bruce by locals, and another three-and-a-half metre shark had been spotted in the breaks offshore.
The large great white was first spotted off Merewether Beach on January 10, before it was seen swimming up and down the nearby coastline throughout the week.
"It's a great relief for everybody but we're still going to maintain a higher rate of surveillance than we normally would," said Nobbys Beach inspector Paul Bernard.
City Council spokeswoman Dana Fischetti said Novocastrians hadn't been too perturbed by the shark threat.
"Really most people have just taken it in their stride," Ms Fischetti told AAP.
"We haven't had anyone call up about doing something about the shark.
"People are pretty accepting that it's their habitat, so when one comes along we just wait for it to go away."
So ubiquitous was the creature that a local jokester set up a Twitter account under the handle Newy_Shark.
"Likes: Swimming, marine mammals. Hates: media demonising sharks," it wrote.
Following a shark-free weekend in Newcastle, warnings were finally lifted at midday on Monday.
But eager swimmers were let down again, this time with stormy surf.
Nobbys and Stockton beaches were the only ones open on Monday while the city's other four beaches stayed closed due to rough conditions.
"It's a really horrible day, it's not a beach day at all," said Mr Bernard.
"It's a bit of a let down."
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