By 11pm hundreds of people who have been drinking at home have made their way into the city.

Many have brought their alcohol with them, oblivious of – or without caring about – the liquor ban, and find themselves having to empty their drinks on the footpath when spotted by police.

“All the preloaders are all in town now,” says one officer after telling a group of men drinking at an intersection to empty their Heinekens. Soon after it’s women with pre-mixes on Shortland St.

At this time of night officers not attending jobs are patrolling the hot-spots, almost on a loop, hoping the presence of a police car will act as a deterrent.

There are certain places they frequent. One is Whitaker Place, an area where there is a lot of emergency housing and police are frequently being called there to deal with burglaries, theft, fraud and drug dealing – an issue that has become worse post-Covid.

K Rd and lower Downtown, in places like Fort St, are the busiest for alcohol-fuelled disorder, so officers on foot patrols make their presence known.

The disorder and assaults jobs are starting to come in now, including the young woman who was punched at Commercial Bay.

The incident is “pretty typical” of what police start to see in the city centre at this time of night.

By 2am the first noticeable wave of people are starting to think about heading home. They are drunk, they are bumping into each other and overreact to the slightest thing. Sometimes that’s all that is needed to trigger a series of minor assaults.

On K Rd a bouncer’s patience is wearing thin. A man has had far too much to drink. He wants to get into the club and, according to the security guards, won’t take no for an answer.

He’s soon lying unconscious on the footpath.

By the time we arrive the man is already on his way to hospital but his friend is still there and the bouncer is quick to defend himself. Another security guard says the man was touching a female in the queue and kept trying to jump the line and being a “nuisance”.

“He kept pushing and pushing,” says the guard. “Eventually you are going to do something.”

He defends the bouncer saying he didn’t punch him – he just put his hand out to stop the wannabe patron and as his hand slapped the man’s forehead he fell backwards and hit his head as he fell on the ground.

At hospital, the heavily intoxicated patron struggles to remember much about what happened. Like many, it’s unlikely he’ll go on to make a complaint once the hangover wears off, as he either can’t remember what happened or doesn’t want to make a big deal of it, given how drunk he was in the first place.

The disorder continues. At 2.28am there are two men and a woman punching someone’s car. There’s also disagreement between an Uber driver and his passengers.

Inside the clubs, party-goers continue to drink.

Just before 4am a call comes in about another fight near the top of Hobson St where a man has been knocked to the ground.

The flashing lights and sirens do little to deter a group of men on the sidewalk, one of whom is trying to punch another as the patrol car stops alongside them.

Things move quickly. As the officers climb out of the car one man screams, “He did it!” Another yells that there is a second man running down Hobson St who was also involved.

One of the men who was throwing punches is taken into the back of the patrol car while another police officer tries to calm everyone down enough to find out what happened.

Just metres up the road, the man who was knocked to the ground is in the recovery position and being comforted by a large group. Tensions are yet to die down and the officers have to move quickly to divert more disorder.

As we head to the custody unit in Mt Eden the smell of alcohol from the man who threw the punch is overwhelming in the back seat.

He keeps repeating the same story.

It’s hard to get any more from him, he acknowledges he drank a lot of whiskey at home earlier in the evening. He spends the next 12 hours in detox before being released with a warning.

Around 4am, as the bars close and as the exodus begins, the serious assaults escalate.

“It’s the drinking in excess and not being able to control yourself. A lot of people that are fighting are very aggressive and drinking to excess and can’t control their emotions,” says one constable.

Then there are the ones looking for trouble.

“I believe there are groups that come into the city looking for fights.”

Despite it being a quiet night, there’s a flurry of similar calls between 4am and 5am.

Two fights on K Rd and one in Fort Lane. A man punches a police car before taking off down Queen St and just after 5am a group of men linked to the Killer Beez are dispersed from the City Works car park.

If there’s one common theme police see on Friday and Saturday nights, it’s the role alcohol has to play in jobs they attend, especially on nights where there has been a big function in the city.

Last Saturday, as we headed out with police for a second time, the crowds gathered in town earlier than normal, ahead of the big game between the All Blacks and the Wallabies at Eden Park.

Many enjoyed a few drinks late afternoon and during the match. Some drank at home then headed into town to celebrate after the 33-25 victory.

Many wore AB shirts. Many were older than the usual crowds on a Saturday night.

It wasn’t long until the disorder jobs started to come in.

Just before 11pm there were reports of eight people fighting and a man with a bleeding lip and bloodstained shirt is being spoken to on Quay St.

Just around the corner, his barefooted girlfriend is furious and demanding to know where her partner is – yelling at two officers who are dealing with another job.

“He’s out here for a 21st. Two brothers got in a fist-fight over the All Blacks v Wallabies,” she says, adding she’s going to call the “family lawyer” as the strong smell of her perfume competes with the meat patties cooking at Burger Boy a few metres away.

As the officers try to calm her an older woman comes running up saying there’s “a massive fight around the corner and a man is lying on the ground”. The culprits, a group of young guys in hoodies, were yelling out “East Side”, as they walked away.

Nearby a middle-aged man staggers along a sidewalk repeatedly bumping into a handrail while trying to find something in his pockets and a young woman lying on a seat is vomiting on to the footpath while a man holds back her hair.

There is a ball on near the Hilton and there are plenty of party buses and limos around town.

Several team policing vans are out in force, responding to reports of disorder and making sure large groups lingering in town don’t cause problems.

By midnight the vans are responding to jobs on K Rd, where a large group of people have gathered outside a bar.

There’s also a 111 call that’s come in from a woman slightly further out of the CBD. She’s in Kingsland and there’s a man walking around her section.

Police arrive to find an All Blacks fan lying in her backyard.

He says he’s had “about 30 beers” and there’s liquid all down his shirt to prove it.

He’s lost his phone and wallet and can remember only the first three numbers of his wife’s mobile – 021.

“Oh, I’m in trouble,” he giggles as police finally get hold of his wife and tell her they are going to transport him to the central police station for her to pick him up.

“You guys don’t know how much trouble I’m in. I’m in so much trouble,” he giggles again oblivious to the fresh pile of vomit just left on the sideway by another All Blacks fan who is staggering down the road.

Around 2am, when a wave of people start heading home, a man hanging out the window of a black Mercedes catches the attention of the police. The driver isn’t paying as much attention to the road as he should, he lingers at lights and police pull him over.

The 18-year-old driver has a suspended licence and blows over the limit. He says his last drink was at 10pm but his reading only increases on a second breath test and he is summoned to appear before the courts.

We move from one drunk driver to another. This time a woman has crashed a silver VW Golf into a garage door near the BayLuck Karaoke bar on Beach Rd.

When police arrive one woman is hanging out of the back passenger door, violently vomiting on the footpath. Her friend tells police she is going “to be honest” – she was driving and she has been drinking. The 20-year-old explains how she pulled up on the sidewalk but forgot to put the car in park and it rolled forward and hit the door.

She’s red-eyed and wants to know if this is going to impact on her job.

As she’s being breath-tested in the back of the patrol car a man approaches - “you know she’s not the driver right, it’s that girl over there”. He points to a young woman sitting in a chair by the entrance of the bar puffing away on her vape.

The real driver is fired-up, swearing at the police and wants her phone. She also blows well over the limit.

Her friend, who tried to cover for her, says they had preloaded on a box and a half of pre-mixed drinks before heading into town.

After spending most of the evening “hanging out near K Rd”, they decided to head home but didn’t have much money so Uber wasn’t an option.

“We probably shouldn’t have done it, driving drunk,” she says.

Her friend, who was given a summons to appear in court, apologises to police once she calms down. But her mood swings again and a picture taken of her with the summons notice shows her giving police the fingers as she scowls at the camera.

As things are wrapping up with the drunk driver the owner of the BMW points to the joint that is sitting on top of his car and has a serious question for the officers: “Hey, can I have this back when you are finished?”

“No,” replies the officer.

“How about just a little puff?”

It’s getting close to daylight now and alcohol-fuelled antics of the night will likely be replaced with nasty hangovers within a few hours.

For many party-goers the aftermath of the big night out, especially those who were drinking, will linger for some time. It’s not just the hangovers but the court summons, fines, suspended licences and impounded cars they have to deal with once they sober up.