This proposition appears to lack either widespread community or mainstream political support.

Unlike 2016, the 2020 ACT election cannot be billed as a "referendum on light rail".

While the ACT Liberals have stopped short of committing to stage 2A in the admittedly improbable event they form government in October, they have said they would honour any contracts signed by the Barr government before the election.

That is a far cry from vowing to stop the project and dismantle works already begun.

The real issue is the opportunity probable delays in the signing of contracts for, and commencement of, stage 2A offers to undo the expedient decision to split the Civic to Woden connections into two separate projects.

It was decided to adopt this approach as a result of, among other things, difficulties in obtaining necessary Commonwealth permissions for work in the Parliamentary triangle and finalising a decision on the final route.

While defensible, this has never been an optimal solution.

The cost benefit return for 2A, the stretch from Alinga Street to Commonwealth Park, is just 60 cents for every dollar spent.

The cost benefit return for stage 2 in its entirety is double that - $1.20 for every dollar spent.

Completing stage 2 in one go, which also eliminates any possibility of further delays or the future cancellation of the defacto third stage linking Commonwealth Park to Woden, is by far the most economic approach.

Given the issues which have been identified, which include global supply chain risks in Spain as a result of the coronavirus and possible difficulties in moving John Holland staff between the ACT and Queensland, where they are based, it may now be possible to tweak the timelines.

It would make a great deal of sense for the ACT government to seize on any short-term delays to eliminate as many as possible of the hurdles that made the two-stage approach necessary.

This is effectively what is being advocated by Fiona Carrick, the former Woden Valley Community Council president, who is standing as an independent in the election.

Ms Carrick, who has also called for the southern link to be extended to Southlands Mawson to access the shopping precinct and nearby schools, said it would minimise the impact on the budget and household rates across the ACT.

It is unfortunate that the light rail debate has evolved to the point where it now bears a marked similarity to the great religious wars of the late middle ages.

To say the project's champions and its critics are divided by irreconcilable differences would be a significant understatement.

Arguments seem to be, as often as not, driven more by individual passions and beliefs than by an assessment of the known facts.

Stage 1 is now a reality which has been embraced by the tens of thousands of Canberrans who have used it to travel from Gungahlin to Civic and vice versa.

Southside residents would be justly aggrieved if they were denied access to the same technology and service, given their rates helped fund the work on the north side.

The debate over whether or not to build the light rail is over.

The most pressing question right now is how to optimise its development at a time when the ACT needs large-scale infrastructure investment to drive the post-virus economic recovery.