Farewells are never easy, even when they're fictitious.
An emotional Jacqueline Nairn, who plays Wendy Cooper on Shortland Street, says she's going to miss the character she's had the privilege of playing for almost six years on Kiwi television's most popular drama.
"Now everyone knows it's all over, Wendy Cooper has come to an end," a tearful Nairn said.
"It is surreal, when you play a character for a long time, they become like one of your best friends.
You're inhabiting them everyday, you're living their life everyday, she's been a part of my world and I've been a part of hers, for a long time. It's a letting go process, fortunately I've had since August 2015 to get used to the idea."
As Kiwis around the country tuned in on Tuesday night to see who would survive and who would meet their untimely end, it became clear that Wendy, the drama's much-loved matriarch, would be the one to go.
After suffering a brain hemorrhage brought on by a fatal gun shot wound during last season's cliffhanger finale, Wendy's on-screen family pulled the plug on their beloved mum on Tuesday - and there was not a dry eye in the house.
Nairn admits it's been far from easy saying her goodbyes to not only her on-screen family, cast and crew, but to the legions of television fans who have supported her character and the popular drama right from day one.
"The thing I'm most proud of, is that it's stayed a secret and the viewers are finding out when they're meant to," she said. "That's really exciting for Shortland Street, that nothing's got out at all, and the secret has remained in tact, that's what we all wanted."
Nairn says that although she loves Wendy with "all her heart" she's ready to take on a new challenge. "It's kind of like a new adventure starting for me now, that's really exciting."
With the burning secret finally out, an emotional Nairn says Shortland Street fans "take their characters to their hearts".
"They're with them five nights a week," she said. "Some of the stuff that I've read on social media, over the last 24 hours has absolutely blown me away. People are devastated, they're upset, when any character dies in the show, they feel like what they know is leaving and we all struggle with change on some level," she said.
"For the Shorty viewers, it's change. When it was decided it was going to be Wendy, the way it was described to me was it was going to make a big impact, so it's going to be Wendy."
"In once sense it's kind of flattering, because they know that she's that loved and people are going to be really upset, and in the other sense it's like 'no, hang on, but I love my job', but I understood it, and it's time. It's her time, it's my time to do something new, it's all ok."