Dili – Standing bolt upright after singing the national anthem, the Indonesian soldiers cleared their weapons in unison and marched off across the tarmac as the sun set on Dili's Comoro airport.
Chanting military songs as they headed towards the waiting C-130 Hercules, some of the 75 air force and special service troops peeled out of formation to exchange hugs and handshakes with watching international peacekeepers.
As they mounted the ramp into the aircraft some turned back and waved at the troops from the International Force for East Timor (Interfet), most of whom returned the gesture as the Hercules roared down the runway.
Throughout Saturday the mood at the airport was relaxed as the last Indonesian troops in East Timor stowed away their equipment and loaded it onto the two waiting transport planes.
The aircraft took 131 of the 909 remaining troops. The rest were due to leave on two ships from Dili's port, with the last vessel expected to depart around midnight.
Some Indonesians posed for snapshots with Interfet soldiers, others sat under a tree listening to a colleague strumming a guitar.
East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao arrived by helicopter from the Falintil rebel base at Remexio east of Dili for a remarkably relaxed and informal farewell ceremony with the departing Indonesian top brass.
Wearing military combat fatigues, Gusmao exchanged salutes with Indonesian officers and could be seen smiling, chatting and shaking hands with the Indonesian commander Brigadier General J.D. Sitorus.
The East Timorese resistance leader spent nearly seven years in jail in Jakarta for his role in leading military resistance to Indonesian occupation, but betrayed no hint of animosity as he chatted with his former enemies.
At one point during the casual ceremony in the old terminal building a beaming Gusmao nonchalantly lit up a cigarette. He later made an emotional appeal for a positive and prosperous relationship with the new Indonesian government.
"I believe in the new government and the Indonesian people and the process of democracy that is going on in Indonesia," Gusmao told reporters after the ceremony.
Ambassador Taufik Sudarbo, head of the Indonesian task force which stayed behind in East Timor after Interfet peacekeepers arrived in mid-September, was also emotional and conciliatory.
"I am very sad because at long last we are to be separated from our brothers in East Timor, but history will show what we can do in the future to build a new state of East Timor," he told AFP.
Interfet troops were out in force to ensure there were no incidents as the bulk of the Indonesians prepared to leave on two troop ships.
Roads leading to main downtown barracks and connecting them to the port area were sealed off as East Timorese began to gather along the waterfront and outside the main barracks as news of the final evacuation spread.
East Timorese at the port to welcome a boatload of refugees returning from West Timor, jeered and cursed 20 armed Indonesian troops heading for the port in a truck.
The Indonesian troops on Friday night abandoned the telecommunications and power facilities they had jointly occupied with Interfet.
And on Saturday they lowered the red and white Indonesian flag fluttering over their downtown barracks – symbolically ending 24 years of military occupation of East Timor.