A detail emerged in the aftermath of Molly Ticehurst's murder: her killer and ex-partner Daniel Billings threatened to exploit her small country town's lack of an after-hours police presence.
Ms Ticehurst was murdered just before midnight in her Forbes home a few weeks later. On Friday, Billings was sentenced to 28 years' jail.
As Australia grapples with what the prime minister has called a domestic violence "crisis," experts are pleading for more to be done in regional and rural Australia.
"We know that regional Australia has a disproportionately high number of domestic and family violence cases," said Chris Lacey, general manager at No To Violence.
For the University of Melbourne's Sarah Wendt, the concept of isolation is central.
Women outside major cities in Australia are more likely to experience domestic and family violence, according to government data.
Kaara Ray Calma, an academic and registered nurse, was living in a regional town when she says she experienced violence from her partner.
Now a researcher and lecturer in the School of Nursing at Griffith University, she is now interviewing victim-survivors and clinicians as part of a new project centred around rural and remote Australia.
"I am deeply worried about the trajectories that we're on," domestic, family and sexual violence commissioner Micaela Cronin told ABC Radio National last week.
A report this month from Australia's peak body for ending men's use of family violence found Australia's response was "highly fragmented," with uneven distribution of support services.
One newly-launched program will work with 8- to 12-year-olds and their families, while a For Baby's Sake model involves supporting new fathers and parents.