Auckland residents are being urged to head back into the central city after a devastating fire at the partially-built SkyCity International Convention Centre was extinguished.
The fire erupted on Tuesday and burned right through until Thursday morning, destroying years of work for the hundreds of workers at the site.
- Photos reveal extent of blaze's damage
- Live updates - Casino back in business, hotel and tower set to reopen Friday
- More SkyCity workers, customers criticise the company's response to the emergency
Acrid smoke brought the central city to a halt in the early hours of the fire, but Heart of the City CEO Viv Beck says it's back to bustling now.
There's a lot of celebration around the flotilla that arrived [on Friday] we've got a four-day art immersive festival at Silo Park; we've got Denmark Design exhibition opening at the Auckland Art Gallery."
Beck said people should come in and take a look at what's going on, especially considering it's been a rough week for most of the CBD residents.
"We'd love to see them come in and participate and show their support for businesses that have had a difficult few days."
Meanwhile Auckland Council is keeping an eye on the water in the basement of the wrecked building. It's confident the runoff from the blaze is not toxic.
Safeswim programme manager Nick Vigar told Newshubthe basement is completely submerged, and will take some time to clear.
"At the current rate of pumping it's expected to take four to six days."
Thirteen Fire and Emergency units were still at the site on Saturday morning, although that's expected to drop to six soon.
Newshub.
