Garvaghy Road residents absented themselves from the scene of Northern Ireland's most controversial loyalist demonstration yesterday.
There was no visible presence anywhere in the nationalist area through which the Orange Order wanted to march on its return to the lodge from Drumcree church on a hill on the outskirts of Portadown.
Elected representatives from the SDLP and Sinn Féin, as well as Mr Brendan Mac Cionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition, mingled with locals outside St John's church.
Mass-goers, down on usual numbers, did not linger despite the protection of British army screen which had been placed at the corner of Garvaghy Road and the outbound route taken my the marchers to Drumcree church.
There were equal numbers of police and army in armoured vehicles but the local population was nowhere to be seen.
Police officers kept a discreet presence at the other end of Garvaghy Road near the town centre and checked all cars and pedestrians as they entered the area.
Security forces had finished securing the area late on Saturday more than 12 hours after they began putting their screens and blockades in place.
No one, other than reporters or police officers, was allowed near the blockade on the bridge just below Drumcree church where the marchers were turned back.
Security forces outnumbered the marchers, whom they were there to police, by at least two to one.
Along Garvaghy Road itself, there was little to identify the area as nationalist other than some tattered Tricolours still fluttering on lampposts from last year and the orange GAA flags of Armagh.
As for the people who had put them up, anecdotal evidence suggested there had been a exodus of sorts for Croke Park to see the football clash with Dublin.
For the remainder, those at the centre of this lingering dispute opted not to take centre-stage.