Australia's biggest city is starting to live with Covid. Asia will be watching - CNN

but I concede lockdowns with Delta are often going to be an unwinnable contest," said Mary-Louise McLaws, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University of New South Wales (UNSW).

As case numbers rose, it became clear that keeping people inside was unsustainable -- for economic and health reasons -- and Australian authorities came up with a plan to vaccinate the country out of the pandemic.

That's a problem because Indigenous people generally suffer more chronic health issues than non-Indigenous people, putting them at greater risk of Covid complications.

Last week, the number of people allowed to gather dropped from five to two, work-from-home became the standard, and classes were suspended or moved online for students aged 12 and under.

Australia is also expecting case numbers to rise -- that's inevitable as people start mixing, even while following other public health advice, including wearing masks.

National modeling from the Doherty Institute predicts that with "partial public health measures" and a 70% double vaccination rate, numbers could rise to 385,000 cases and 1,457 deaths over six months -- more than Australia's total toll over the entire pandemic.

Greater vigilance could see those numbers drop, it added.

Ahead of the reopening, Australia's leaders have been careful to prepare their citizens for more deaths, casting it as the cost of getting back to normal life.

But like Singapore, Australia has not ruled out reintroducing tighter restrictions if cases rise too quickly.

Apart from Singapore and Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam have all spoken about abandoning an elimination strategy.

Experts said countries around the region will be looking to Sydney to see how successfully it moves to reopen -- and to learn from its mistakes.

And not only other countries -- Morrison is keen to move ahead quickly with a nationwide reopening, and Australia's other states and territories will have a close eye on NSW.

Victoria, Australia's second largest state, will likely be the next to reopen later in October.

Paul Griffin, director of Infectious Diseases at Mater Health Services, said other governments would be particularly interested in how Sydney's health system holds up after reopening.

"I don't think case numbers will be the key metric," he said.