Whyalla locals have become accustomed to press packs descending on their city, entering their small businesses and asking how they feel about the latest crisis to befall their city.
Whether during the closure of the shipyards in the late 1970s, or the steelworks going into administration in 2016, the responses over the years have been similar.
The community has "gone through a lot" but it will "band together" because it is a "resilient town" looking forward to better days.
Stoicism and optimism aside, when the South Australian government revealed on Monday that the steelworks' ailing blast furnace would be permanently shut at a cost of more than 600 jobs, a new response emerged.
Asked local cafe worker June Worsnop.
The shuttering of the 1960s-built blast furnace is, 18 months on from the steelworks being tipped into administration, the fruits of the state and federal governments' billions for Whyalla are still a long way away from being realised.
Two bidders are in the running, while BlueScope Steel retains its right of last offer.
The loss of more than 600 jobs in Whyalla will be felt across the whole town, according to local gym owner Justin Fennell, who said he spent an hour on Monday night talking to one of the workers affected.
The state government announced on Monday that it would fund between $60 to $80 million in redundancy payments in a split with the Commonwealth.
On the question of what all the money has been for so far, Mr Koutsantonis said: "We haven't spent $1 billion on the blast furnace."