While these were to be expected, the much better than anticipated employment figures took everybody by surprise. The Australian economy is proving to be more resilient than anybody had dared to hope. The outcomes were particularly good in the ACT with a further significant fall in unemployment.

And borders are finally beginning to open up. Both Queensland and South Australia have said they no longer regard the ACT as a hot spot. Canberrans can already fly into South Australia. They will be allowed to travel to Queensland in time for the school holidays.

Then, on Friday, even Western Australia came to the party on the PM's push to increase the cap on the number of Australians allowed to return from overseas from 4000 to 6000 a week by October 11. Who would have thought?

While the PM had hoped to have the changes in place sooner, he was pragmatic about what was achieved on Friday afternoon.

"We will get there [on bringing the people home]," he said. "Probably a couple of weeks after I'd like to get there - but the important thing is we'll get there."

The reason for the delay is that Western Australia and Queensland both pleaded for extra time to get their quarantine arrangements up to speed; a not unreasonable request given they have been doing very little in this space for months.

Mr Morrison and his advisers would be well aware that if any state was pressured into accepting returnees before it considered itself ready that the federal government would cop the blame for any outbreaks. Smaller jurisdictions, such as the ACT and Tasmania, could assist with quarantining people bought back on special evacuation charter flights.

While it would be dangerous to read too much into what was achieved on Friday, there are signs the more intransigent states have seen the writing on the wall.

They now seem to be prepared to adopt a more mature, and less self-interested, approach that recognises the federation has to pull together to get through this crisis. The Prime Minister even said he was quietly hopeful the Western Australian border could reopen in time for Christmas.

If this is so it makes a welcome change from the "balkanisation" of Western Australia and Queensland into semi-autonomous principalities apparently hell-bent on going their own way that we have seen in recent weeks. It is to be hoped this continues given we truly are still "all in this together".

The commitment to increase the cap on returnees by 50 per cent will make a massive difference for the estimated 24,000 Australians still stranded abroad. The original cap of 4000 people a week was imposed shortly after the second wave in Victoria following the necessary termination of international flights into Melbourne.

Mr Morrison said DFAT had been given "tens of millions" of dollars to assist an estimated 4000 distressed Australians trying to return, and that consular staff had been given wide discretionary powers. He is hopeful that if all goes to plan all those who want to return will have done so by Christmas.

All of this adds up to some of the best news on both the health and economic fronts for what seems to be a very long time.

It is a welcome change to the Groundhog Day-like "swimming through treacle" experience the country has endured for the last three difficult months.