It will not be until the ball is finally bounced at 7.30pm on Saturday for the AFL's first night grand final and the first time it is played outside Melbourne that game and club officials breathe a final sigh of relief.

After the stop-start season which relocated to Queensland, strict quarantine rules remain in place until the bounce with talk of Geelong star Tom Hawkins' sore throat and a tropical thunderstorm in Brisbane, keeping officials on edge to the very end.