Wang Wang and Fu Ni's love affair with Australia has ended with a final farewell to visitors at Adelaide Zoo.
As a final treat, the pair - on loan from China since 2009 - were given a special meal on Wednesday enriched with letters, messages and drawings from more than 1000 adoring fans.
Zoo keepers delivered an emotional farewell to the animals in a video on social media.
Senior primate keeper Pij Olijnik said he loved greeting the pandas each morning.
"I just love rocking up to work and opening the door and having pandas there that greet you," he said.
"They verbally greet you and seem happy to see you and welcome you into that environment."
Panda keeper Jemma Cleere, who has worked with the animals for four years, said they would be sitting on their hammocks when the keepers arrived.
"I've learned so much from the giant pandas, they are such incredible animals," she said.
One of her favourite memories was of Wang Wang creating his own bubble bath.
"We put some bubbles on a towel, and he grabbed it and put it in his pond and swished it all around, and he made himself a little bubble bath," she said.
"It was very cute, very adorable."
There were long-held hopes that Wang Wang, 19, and Fu Ni, 18, would breed while in Australia, as part of a global conservation program for the vulnerable species.
But despite many attempts during their brief annual mating window, several "false pregnancies", and failed artificial insemination procedures for Fu Ni, parenthood remained out of reach for the popular pair.
The pandas - who were born at China's Wolong Giant Panda Research Centre - have still had access to their day rooms and outdoor habitat during their quarantine period, giving visitors a final opportunity to wave goodbye in their specially built Bamboo Forest enclosure.
Adelaide Zoo will welcome new giant pandas, male Xing Qiu (pronounced shing chee-y-ull) and female Yi Lan (ee-lun), later this year.
Both are from the Chinese city of Chengdu and are aged three, with Xing Qiu turning four just before his arrival.
Zoos SA chief executive Elaine Bensted said the new pandas' arrival would mark the next conservation chapter for giant pandas in Adelaide.
"After careful consideration and many online discussions, Xing Qiu and Yi Lan were chosen as the pair that will make the journey to Australia," she said.
The young pandas were chosen for their ability to adapt to the Adelaide environment and their suitability as a breeding pair when they are older.
"It is an honour to be entrusted with the care of such a beautiful species," Ms Bensted said.
"Their arrival will allow us to continue to spark a love for giant panda conservation not only here in South Australia but around the world."
