When the ball hit the back of the net for the second time, it felt like the roof might lift off.
Every hand in courtyard, where the crowd was shoulder to shoulder before the big screen in a sea of bustling green and gold, hit the air in unison.
The cheer was deafening.
The cacophony of celebration gradually turned to roars of 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie,' and 'Ole, Ole, Ole'.
In the tempest, Chris Hatfield was ecstatic.
The Belmont North footballer had been at the Lucky Hotel on Hunter Street since 8am. For some, football is a sport. For others, its religion.
Moments before Connor Metcalfe punched the ball past Turkey's goalkeeper in a blistering counterattack after 20 minutes of simmering defensive pressure, Hatfield had said the Roos were "making it scary".
They had come to spoil the party. Turkey, having qualified for the finals for the first time since 2022, had entered the match as the No. 22 challenger, confident it had seemed, of ending the Australia's World Cup campaign in the cradle.
When asked about Australia at training on Friday, Turkey captain Hakan Calhanoglu had declared he expected a "more talented" Turkey to dominate the clash.
In response, Socceroos coach Tony Popovic was unflappable.
"They expect to win, but so do most people," Popovic said. "So all we can do is try and spoil the party."
Turkey had dominated possession, with 28 shots at full-time to Australia's eight, but it wasn't enough to keep the Roos down.
"I'm trying to think of words that I can say back," Hatfield said when asked about Calhanoglu's comments. "He's wrong."
Across the water, at Stockton's George Washington Hotel, Lola Conybear had come from one winning game that morning to see the other.
The Stockton Sharks under 12s striker had scored on of her team's four goals to defeat Cooks Hill that morning before the club gathered to watch the Socceroos play.
"It's everything," she said of the game. "I like playing on the field with my friends."
Last weekend, she was one among the local girls who ran the ball out alongside the Matildas when they played Mexico at McDonald Jones Stadium. It was a special moment, she said.
"It was so much fun to be on the pitch with them," she said.
The Sharks had seen a groundswell of girls joining their ranks, following the Matilda's meteoric rise in the public imagination such that the club is close to player parity between men and women.
"Ten years ago, maybe 10 per cent of players were female," club coach, and Lola's dad, Lee Conybear said.
"The graph has just gone, like that," he said, shooting his hand into the air.
Now, the older girls are taking up game day duties for the younger grades, and the club is counting members of about 550 strong. About 60 had turned out at the weekend the celebrate the Socceroos win.
"We have world class players," Hatfield said at the Lucky, with a Socceroos scarf wrapped high around his neck.
"I think for the first time since 2006, we have we have really good attacking players and it's exciting."
"I grew up playing football. I still play football up here with the NPL. In some parts of the world, it is definitely a religion. It's more than a sport. It is something that I would love to see here, because the passion in the Brazil game this morning was--"
He broke off mid sentence. Metcalfe had broken away and was making his inquiry. The ball hit the net, and the room exploded in celebration. Metcalfe was captured gliding on his knees over the pitch.
In that moment, if Hatfield had finished his thought, it would have been impossible to hear.
- with reporting by AAP
