It’s a touch before 10am on a Wednesday but inside the Sporting Club of Sydney, it feels more like the weekend.

A weights room smelling of fresh paint is buzzing with the clatter of dumbbells and kettlebells and a thudding dance track. Around the corner off a sunny atrium, a low hum comes from a cafe overlooking a pool deck where women in Lululemon lycra wait for smoothies while suits with still-wet hair sit at tables downing scrambled eggs. Beyond the cafe, an outdoor pool glints beside stone-coloured banana-lounges.