Late yesterday afternoon, the developers behind a drive-through bottle shop in Myall Street withdrew their development application (DA) from Dubbo council.

It may have taken almost five months, almost 400 objections from residents, and vocal concern from a swag of State Cabinet ministers, but the bottle shop plan is no more.

Council's environmental services director Melissa Watkins confirmed the news.

"I think they have decided to listen to the community," she said.

"It's a much better end to the process than one that was going to be very confrontational."

It was exactly four weeks ago the developers wrote to Dubbo council to question the legality of the women's centre.

The council classified the letter as an official complaint and the community refuge was forced to close down.

Now, Apollo House is being revamped thanks to a $50,000 cash injection, a new DA is being prepared, and the unassuming women of Apollo Estate have beaten a liquor shop from preying on their youth.

Yesterday Ellen Doolan raised her fist skywards: "Take us on again!"

Apollo House volunteer Michelle Doolan said with tears in her eyes: "This is the greatest news."

"It was out of the blue," she said.

"I thought there was still going to be a long drawn-out battle."

Michelle Doolan was not the only one. Arthur and Peter Samios, who submitted the DA, together with their engineer John Cook, had repeatedly warned they were prepared to appeal to the land and environment court.

Only last week they were still collecting documents for a court battle. They refused to comment for this article, but in a letter to the editor (published on page seven), Mr Cook outlined the reasons the application was finally withdrawn.

"Council senior staff have opposed the development on a personal basis," he wrote.

He also cited letters of "objection from leading politicians" and that council had already indicated how they would vote "before they had been supplied with the recommendation".

"And then the icing on the cake. Our local member of State Parliament, actively writing to five ministers," he wrote.

But his letter makes no mention of a petition of local residents opposing the bottle shop that garnered 384 signatures.

Nor does it mention the objections from the police or the department of housing, which drew links between the proposed liquor outlet and a possible spike in crime and domestic violence in the community.

Perhaps the most compelling testimony came from Ellen Doolan, who many months ago stood up before council and told them that the bottle shop would destroy the Apollo estate community.

"When I stood there, I thought about my grandmother, and my great-grandmother," Ellen Doolan said.

"We really took up this fight," she said smiling.

A week ago the Daily Liberal reported that the gaming and racing minister Grant McBride "sympathised" with community concerns over the bottle shop.

His comments came after the housing minister wrote a letter to Dubbo City Council offering his formal objection to the approval of the DA.

"It is well documented that there is a correlation between alcohol consumption and violent crime ... for the safety of local residents, and the future of our young people, it is my recommendation that the development application be refused," he wrote.

Yesterday, the news brought relief to the faces of Collins Avenue.

The news was called up and down the street and a crowd gathered.

But most remarkable was the hope that came with it.

Shirkira Dunn, a young advocate for strengthening the community, said it was all about "people standing up for their rights".

Ellen agreed. "This gives people a voice, and it instils courage in people," she said.

Two local women Jan Clarke and Cathy Peachey began to dream up ideas for the empty plot behind the Myall St shops.

Ms Clarke said some people had planned to move because "they didn't want their children to have to walk past drunks in the street on the way to school".

"But now maybe we can build a youth centre up there," Ms Peachey said.