As of Christmas Eve the ACT has recorded 102 new cases bringing the active total to 334 while testing sites continue to hit capacity with long wait times. Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith on Friday said she anticipated more than 1000 Canberrans would be spending Christmas day in quarantine.

Mike Stanker, the bar manager of The Basement, which was listed as an exposure site on December 17 and 18, has COVID and is now spending Christmas in lockdown with his wife Kez Gleeson, who was awaiting test results at the time of writing.

"The timing couldn't be worse, obviously over Christmas with really short notice people have had to change their plans very suddenly," Mr Stanker said.

"My biggest drama with the whole thing is I put those who I spent time with into a Christmas lockdown which is not great for them so I feel quite guilty. My in-laws are close contacts so they've had to isolate because of me."

"The Canberra community has been amazing, we've had lots of people dropping off presents and food hampers, we've got a great friend base."

"We'll be doing a video call on Christmas Day and hopefully Australia Day can be our alternative for celebrations," Ms Gleeson said.

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When Bonnie Crowley could barely drag herself out of bed on Monday she knew something was wrong with her body.

The 23-year-old part time public servant, personal trainer and bartender was not too surprised to get a message on Tuesday that a patron at the bar where she worked on the weekend had tested positive for COVID.

On Thursday she got the call from ACT Health that she too had tested positive for the virus. The news meant all of the Christmas plans tumbled over, from the traditional church service to family dinner and a trip to the Gold Coast next week.

"This is the only time I get off from work because of the shutdown period," she said.

"I've never not spent Christmas with my family before so it's definitely going to be very, very weird."

Panadol and Nurofen have been enough to keep her headaches and fever under control and Uber eats and friends have been dropping over some supplies. Salmon and spinach are on the menu for Christmas Day lunch.

"I've literally just been sleeping. Unfortunately I haven't had much energy to do anything else but I've just been binging Netflix. Once I get more energy hopefully I'll be able to just do some workouts and cook some food and stuff, just do the basic basics to get me through until I can leave," she said.

"I'm interested to see how it would affect someone that isn't double vaccinated. It's a bit of a concern because I'm a pretty healthy individual and it absolutely wipes me."

As a double-vaccinated case, Ms Crowley will be able to get out of home isolation at 11.59pm on New Year's Eve, but she won't be heading to crowded places anytime soon.

"I'm just kind of rolling with it and trying not to let it get me down."

Greg Lloyd was also a close contact of the Cellblock 69 gig on Friday, but he wouldn't let isolation get in the way of his daily running habit.

He made tracks on the balcony of his Braddon apartment, running five kilometres round and round the eight by three-metre space each morning to keep his mind sharp and centred in isolation.

"It's actually been not too bad other than the fact that I don't usually take so many corners while running... But I think tomorrow morning I'll be pretty glad to get out and actually run in a straight line for longer than eight metres," Mr Lloyd said.

He went into isolation from midday Tuesday and has since received two negative tests. He and the group of friends who attended the concert together haven't contracted the virus and will be free to leave at 11.59pm Christmas Eve.

The best Christmas present will be going out to run outside before a quiet family lunch.

"We weren't planning to travel, so this doesn't disrupt any of that. We're just having a quiet Christmas break in Canberra."

Damian Blankley is the sound technician for The Basement and has also tested positive while the rest of his family wait to see the outcome of their results.

"I'm living in the master bedroom of the house and isolating from the rest of my family, I'm on day four since symptoms showed up and I'm starting to feel a bit better so I'm lucky in that regard," Mr Blankley said.

"It's hard because my son is unvaccinated because he's seven so he's struggling a bit as he can't give me a cuddle."

"I don't think he properly conceptualised the reality of COVID until I got it so we're trying to reassure him that I'm okay."

"It definitely sucks though that I'll probably be in a room by myself celebrating Christmas and we were meant to travel to Queensland after.

"On the positive we're hoping to open the door and I can watch my son open his Christmas presents down the hallway."

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