Brisbane rests easy after a successful G20 THEY hugged koalas, posed for cameras and spent lots of time shaking hands and talking behind closed doors. FOR world leaders and for Brisbane, the G20 summit is finally over. Barely had the official G20 summary been released and the leaders were off, with US President Barack Obama in the air soon after the summit wrapped up on Sunday. Russian President Vladimir Putin didn't even hang around that long, citing the need to get back to Moscow and catch up on his sleep as he headed to the special G20 airport in Brisbane before proceedings had even finished. Brisbanites will soon get their city back as the riot fences are removed and special laws that made it illegal to carry reptiles on some streets expire. Police declared it a triumph, with no major incidents reported from the 6000 officers deployed to patrol the often empty streets in the city's CBD and south bank areas. The mercury soared, with snipers atop Brisbane rooftops reporting extreme temperatures beyond 60 degrees Celsius. Protests were numerous, colourful, but peaceful. Inside the giant Brisbane convention centre, 3000 journalists from across the globe bunkered down to cover the G20 proceedings. In the end the business side of the two-day spectacle was distilled into an unassuming three-page communique. G20 leaders - the heads of the world's largest developed and emerging economies - pledged to do their bit to grow the global pie. The overarching goal is to achieve more than two per cent economic growth in the bloc above business as usual by 2018. The real test will be whether countries come good on their promises, but that's really for the next G20 host - Turkey - to oversee. There were also commitments to crackdown on tax avoidance, bolster financial markets from shocks and shore up the banks deemed "too big to fail." But despite the Abbott government's wish for a narrow agenda under its G20 presidency, there was much more to the G20 than just jobs and growth. Climate change and the Ebola outbreak were hot topics, dominating talks on the sidelines of the main event. The show-stopping moment was Mr Obama's speech to students at the University of Queensland, a grandiose affair given blanket coverage by global media. The US president added much needed humour, conviction and spectacle to a summit predominantly comprised of closed door talks between colourless functionaries. Other highlights were the "family" photo of G20 leaders - a potentially tense diplomatic exercise - and the awkward hand gestures shared by Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Mr Putin. The mantle now gets passed to Turkey, who assumes the G20 presidency in December and will host next year's leaders' meeting. For Australia, the fun and games continues. Indian president Narendra Modi, Chinese president Xi Jinping, French president Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hang around a few days for non-G20 events. Mr Modi and Mr Xi will have the honour of addressing federal parliament in Canberra this week.