People in Auckland are already lining up outside at least one major shopping mall - nearly 24 hours before its stores are due to open. 

A long queue is snaking down the side of the Sylvia Park shopping complex in Mt Wellington this morning, despite the mall not due to open until 9am tomorrow. 

The country's largest city will officially move to alert level 3 step 2 just before midnight - signalling the end of a strict lockdown that has shut up shops around the city since mid-August. 

Linda Trainer, part of the group that owns Sylvia Park, Kiwiproperty, joined Heather du Plessis-Allan.

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