It was just after 2pm last Friday when the Parades Commission posted their written determination.
The panel decided that, for the first time in almost 30 years, the Portadown Orange Order was to be allowed to end their march on Sunday by returning along the nationalist Garvaghy Road.
For most, the news of the decision was a startling one, a reminder of the more troubled days that were thought to be consigned to history.
The question many were left asking was how did the Parades Commission come to its decision, and why now?
The commission's reasoning
The Parades Commission document outlining their decision is available on their website. It's an easy-to-read paper, made up of 31 paragraphs, and gives an insight into the commission's thinking and why it arrived at the conclusions it did.
It starts off setting out the wider scene, making statements that all sides in this dispute can agree on.
"The annual Drumcree Church parade is one of, if not the most, contentious parades in Northern Ireland."
It notes the parade is a "polarising one", on the one hand seen as a denial of civil liberties and, on the other, reopening a sense of trauma and hurt.
It goes on to say that the Orange Lodge said it wanted to ensure that there would be no display of "triumphalist behaviour", while the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition spoke of their "inability to understand the insistence of the Orange Order to attempt to parade along the Garvaghy Road, when there is an alternative and less controversial route available".
The commission says it carefully considered those representations, but it seems the input from the PSNI was significant in their decision-making.
"The police have stated ... that they have no information indicating that the parade will result in public disorder or damage to property if it proceeds along its notified route."
In its ruling, the commission said it was cognisant of the "terrible disorder" that occurred in the 1990s, but added: "Given their operational experience, the assessment of the police must be given significant weight in the consideration of the potential for disorder."
The Parades Commission ultimately decided that the march could return down the Garvaghy Road, but with certain measures in place to "reduce the size and impact of the parade".
A reversal of previous rulings
That decision last Friday by the Parades Commission is in stark contrast to the one it arrived at just three months ago and to the ones it's made for the past 28 years.
In early July, it concluded that, noting "potential impacts on community relations", "a restriction on the route is necessary", meaning the Garvaghy route was ruled out.
That conclusion was reached after police said the route "can be deemed as sensitive", with the commission saying there was a concern for the "potential for disorder".
So what happened in the period from July to last week, when the Parades Commission released its controversial determination?
The High Court challenge
Well, that July decision to prevent the march down Garvaghy was challenged in the High Court in Belfast by the Portadown Orangemen.
Last August, a judge quashed the Parades Commission ruling, citing a "procedural failing".
Among other things, the court heard that the commission's determination had not been considered by all six of its commissioners.
The Orange Order then made a new application, the result of which was released last Friday.
Shockwaves and scrutiny
The Parades Commission's decision last week sent shockwaves through the island and beyond.
Those who support their ruling say the commission's decisions shouldn't be cherry-picked, but others say this one was not grounded in reality, in particular the contention from the police that they had no information indicating that the parade would result in public disorder.
The decision last Friday has cast a spotlight on many things: the reaction of elected representatives, the input from the PSNI, the Parades Commission itself and much more besides.
In its determination, the commission at one point notes that "relationships have improved a lot in Portadown in recent years..."
The current state of those relationships may now have changed since last Friday, just after 2pm.
