Some small businesses felt they were thrown a lifeline when the ACT Government eased rules on click-and-collect and online shopping.
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Others felt that Friday's U-turn hadn't changed very much at all. They were still struggling.
Some said the new rules remained unclear and confusing.
Before the change, Irene Donoghoe wasn't allowed to sell plants to people who ordered online or over the phone.
While her store on Lonsdale Street was banned from this kind of trade, stores in Sydney - the current Covid-central - were allowed to trade online.
Now the Canberra store can as well.
"It means we are now able to trade," the proprietor of The Green Vine Plants said.
"Without being able to trade online, we had zero people coming in."
After the change to the rules, she had more than 20 customers either phoning orders in or clicking online, and then turning up at the door to pick up the plant.
"It's been a lifesaver for us. I'm in a business which put an online store in place in anticipation of the lockdown."
The reason for the ACT government's previous block on online trading of inessential goods isn't known.
Irene Donoghoe surmises that the government just didn't want people to leave home, and that meant closing down the opportunities.
Except at Bunnings where 19,000 people visited ACT stores in a single day.
The ACT Government ruled against that on Friday.
On Saturday, browsers were banned and only tradies and people picking up online orders were allowed.
A system of lanes for cars, and stop signs had been set up in the store's carpark in Fyshwick.
On the other side of Collie Street, the manager of Pushys bike store was also serving click-and-collect customers - but for the bike shop this was an easing of rules.
Inspectors from the ACT government had visited the store earlier in the week and warned staff that they could sell nothing except what was immediately needed for a repair.
If a customer came in with a broken bike chain, he or she could buy a new bike chain but not a new saddle, according to Pushys manager William Knowles.
He welcomed the ability to sell online - but the business still remained deathly quiet compared with pre-Covid times.
Other business owners remained dismayed. Friday's change of rules hadn't helped.
Better Music in Phillip had been told that staff couldn't go in even to receive instruments already paid for and in transit from abroad.
After the change of rules, owner and founder Greg Soulsby said the basic situation hadn't changed. Two staff were now allowed to work - but two were not enough to manage bulky items like some musical instruments.
"With normal stock arriving, with two people it's still difficult. I'm worried about health and safety issues."
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
