Thousands of people have already booked trips to South Australia as the border opens up to NSW residents for the first time in nearly six months.
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The restrictions were lifted at midnight after NSW recorded two days with zero community transmission of COVID-19.
As people arrived at Sydney airport to head to Adelaide on Thursday, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was celebrating the milestone in her very public fight against border closures.
"I shouldn't get political but that's another good Liberal state doing the right thing for the nation," she told Sydney radio 2GB on Thursday.
She applauded SA Premier Steven Marshall for having the "courage and the confidence to take that necessary step" of allowing free travel between the states again.
"It's a big call for his state," she said.
"I heard yesterday that thousands of trips have already been booked - and I'm really pleased by that," she said.
After the announcement on Wednesday Jetstar advertised flights from Sydney to Adelaide for just $59 and Virgin said it would resume daily flights between Sydney and Adelaide from October 2.
Ms Berejiklian did however, urge vigilance ahead of the school holidays which start this weekend as residents become more mobile than they have been since February.
She noted there is a high likelihood the virus is still circulating in NSW, especially in western and southwestern Sydney, and urged people with even the mildest symptoms to get tested.
The premier said she was hopeful the entire Queensland border will be opened up sooner rather than later after the Sunshine State said it would extend its border travel bubble 100 kilometres further into NSW.
However Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles said borders would stay shut to the rest of NSW until at least the end of the month and it remained unlikely they would reopen in October.
Australian Associated Press