Deborah Winkler and Kareem Abdelmaksound are two of more than 150 Australians evacuated from the ill-fated Diamond Princess to spend 14 days at an old miners' camp in Darwin.

An NT resident was the first to leave the quarantine facility at 5.30am on Thursday morning after the group was given a clean bill of health the night before.

The Australian Border Force put on a barbecue breakfast for all the former cruise-ship passengers after each person was supplied with a letter to say they'd done their time.

Ms Winkler said it was the first time most people had seen each other without masks, despite having lived in close quarters for more than a month.

"Everyone's a bit tired, but glad to be out," she said from the airport on Thursday. "And it's nice to not wear a face mask."

She said after a fortnight at the dry camp she'd enjoyed an alcoholic beverage and the chance to choose her own food at the airport.

Upon touching down in Canberra on Thursday evening, Ms Winkler said she was looking forward to "the mundane things" ahead of an expected start back at work after the long weekend. Taking the Christmas tree out would be high on the priority list too.

"We won't be going out and buying a huge amount of toilet paper like people seem to be doing," she said.

The wife and husband left their home in Hughes on January 19 to board the Diamond Princess in Tokyo. Their plan was to tour Asia before returning to the ACT on February 5.

Returning a month later than anticipated, the federal public servant said she was more fortunate than many, as she'd been granted paid leave.

They expected Mr Abdelmaksound's travel business would take a hit.

"He's already had people want to cancel. That will happen," Ms Winkler said.

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Since disembarking the Diamond Princess, 45 people were tested for coronavirus and eight of them returned positive results.

A Perth man later died after being flown home for medical treatment, alongside the other ill passengers.

Ms Winkler said she expected there to be some trepidation in the public surrounding their return.

"I'm sure there'll be some people who don't want to get too close to it," she said.

"We know we've done everything we need to do during the quarantine period.

"Maybe I'll take my piece of paper - flash it around."

The global response to the coronavirus outbreak continued to escalate this week, with Italy announcing the closure of all schools and universities.

Australian residents returning from Europe's worst hit country will be told to self-isolate for 14 days, with the death toll rising by 49 to 197 on Friday. The virus had spread to more than 85 countries on Saturday and claimed more than 3300 lives.