Only a handful of customers were shopping, the aisles mostly clear except for staff filling online orders. Shelves were being restocked.

It had been a different story on Thursday when news of the ACT's seven-day lockdown sent Canberrans racing to the shops to fill up their trolleys ahead of the 5pm curfew.

Coles Tuggeranong store manager Beau King, a 16-year veteran of the supermarket caper, said he had never seen anything like it, as queues to the checkouts stretched to the meat section at the back of the store and then snaked around to the bakery aisles.

Now, I can understand the panic-buying a bit. It's like an instinct that kicks in, something you can do to make sure your family is cared for during an uncertain time, whether that's rational or not. And it may give you a sense of control. You may not be able to control a virus or a government's response to it, but, by God, you have enough toilet paper and pasta for when the ship goes down. And people's snooty responses to the panic buying do get a bit old.

However, that doesn't explain away the simple fact that the supermarkets are still open and are not closing any time soon. We can still buy food and other essential items throughout the lockdown. You could have done your shopping on Friday in peace and with far fewer people breathing on you.

The point is, supermarkets and supermarket staff have always been there for us, throughout the pandemic.

They have not closed. The staff have not been sent home to be with their families. They have continued to serve us. And, for that, we should be grateful.

Mr King, whose face was half-hidden by a mask on Friday but who I'm sure is a fresh-faced 33-year-old, has been working for Coles since he was straight out of school.

He has worked in 16 supermarkets in 16 years and loves the job. He met his wife Jemma when she was working in the same Coles on the South Coast and they now work together at Tuggeranong (she is on the registers). They are often ships in the night as one comes in for work and the other leaves, both caring for their daughters Kaylee, 6, and Tahlr, 4.

"I started off with it just as a job, definitely, and then I moved into a career," he said.

"I think I've relocated four times with the job - out west to Dubbo, down to the coast and back and forth from Canberra. I've met a lot of people that I've still kept in contact, so friends for life."

On Thursday, the supermarkets started to get busy from 11am and were full to overflowing once the official lockdown announcement came out just after noon.

"As soon as we saw there could be a potential [Covid] case, we started calling and getting team in," Mr King said.

"We had a really big meeting this morning [Friday] and thanked everyone for what they did [on Thursday]. Everyone pitched in, dropped what they were doing at home. People finished their annual leave early. Everyone just got in and helped."

He got home about 8pm, claiming to be not too exhausted.

"I'm not too bad actually. I went home and played with the kids before bed," he said.

Mr King said the crowds on Thursday at the Tuggeranong Coles were all well-behaved.

"We put a limit of two toilet papers each person straight away and prevented it from running out which helped heaps. People were very considerate. Everyone was checking in and everyone seemed to be wearing masks. We just hope that continues," he said.

He said the panic buying always kicked in once photos of empty shelves started to appear on social media.

"So I think if people just slow down a bit, they'll realise we actually have really good supply," he said.

"When you get such a big influx of people, it takes us two days to recover. Today [Friday] the store is very empty but tonight [Friday] and tomorrow [Saturday] we'll fill it back up."

So by Sunday, the shelves will be restocked. The supermarkets will be open as always. Thank goodness for all our supermarket workers.

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