Once exclusive Golden Wing Lounges were thrown open to Ansett workers and their families, who commandeered luggage trolleys to keep wakes supplied with alcohol and food.
While thousands of now former Ansett workers gave the airline a wet farewell on Momday night, the last passenger flight was winging its way from Perth to Sydney.
In Melbourne, the wake spilled over from the Golden Wing Lounge into the main terminal.
"It is impossible to tell how many are here; it seems like tens of thousands," said a staff member. "There is a lot of sadness about tonight, because the feelings are so intense."
In Sydney, luggage trolleys were used to ship dozens of cartons of beer and about 100 pizzas up to the farewell bash.
Uniformed Ansett staff on Brisbane airport's tarmac jeered and angrily raised their middle fingers to an ill-timed Air New Zealand flight tonight.
In what seemed an accidental act of gloating, an Air New Zealand plane took off just as the last Ansett flight began to pull out. The thousands of employees attending the doomed airline's wake booed and jeered.
