As the end looms for the Alice Springs youth curfew, residents are afraid of what happens next

It's dark outside as hungry diners queue up for a feed at Roberto's Pizza in the centre of Alice Springs.

Sandeep Kaur is behind the counter taking orders, and says she hasn't seen the store this busy for a long time.

"It's better now. Way better," the 21-year-old said.

The shopfront bears the scars of the town's all-too-frequent disturbances, its windows shattered where projectiles have been hurled.

"We experienced a lot of troubles in the past," Ms Kaur said.

"People [would] come in and steal the drinks and break the windows where the glass is and fight in the shop."

But ever since a temporary youth curfew was enacted last week, she said many of the late-night problems had subsided.

"People feel safe to place orders nowadays, and our sales [have] increased," Ms Kaur said.

At a nearby pub, local resident Geoffrey Miller has also noticed a positive change.

"It's quiet," the 59-year-old Arrernte-Anmatjere man said.

"Three to four weeks ago, you had masses of kids throwing rocks walking past the pub.

Acting Senior Sergeant Leigh Yates is coordinating tonight's police operation – the eighth night in a row that dozens of police in high-vis have converged on the town.

They're here to enforce a no-go zone in the CBD, where anyone under the age of 18 is banned between 6pm and 6am.

That's unless they have a valid reason to be there, such as work, sport or making their way home.

"Up until the curfew, it's been quite hectic with the youth crime in Alice Springs," Senior Sergeant Yates said.

No arrests despite surge in police

But each night, dozens of children are still found within the boundaries of the 4-kilometre-long "high risk area" in Alice Springs.

Tonight, three of them have been stopped by police in a car park opposite the Yeperenye Shopping Centre.

A fourth child, who looks about 10-years-old, is hiding behind a public toilet, watching his friends.

Police are concerned the group has been sniffing volatile substances.

Within minutes, an ambulance arrives to take them away for a medical assessment.

By then, the fourth child has dashed off in the direction of the Todd Street Mall, carrying what appears to be a bottle of deodorant.

It's just one of many interactions that officers will have with young people over the course of the 12-hour overnight shift.

"If they are out and about at night-time, [we try to] identify who they are, engage with them and then get them back to a place of safety, back to their parents and their homes," Senior Sergeant Yates said.

Most of the 303 children who police have spoken to since the curfew began have either agreed to leave the area, or accepted rides home, he said.

"For the most part, all the young people seem to be complying with the curfew conditions," he said.

"There's been no arrests for breaches of curfew conditions."

Police have been working side-by-side with youth engagement staff from the Territory Families department, under what's known as a "co-responder model".

"If [police] need them to be conveyed out of the CBD because they're not here for one of the legitimate reasons, they'll get on the radio, call one of our youth outreach re-engagement teams, and they'll convey them home," the department's acting general manager for the central region, Brenden Boyce, said.

Mr Boyce said awareness about the curfew rules had quickly spread across the town.

"If young people are from Alice Springs and live here, they do now know about the curfew and what it's about," he said.

"Interestingly, if there's young people that are visiting maybe from community or from even interstate, we're still finding that we need to do that education piece and let people know about the curfew."

'I want it to last longer'

The youth curfew was launched after months of escalating problems in the town, which culminated in a violent disturbance involving 150 people early last week.

The temporary measure has been variously promoted as a circuit breaker or criticised as a band-aid solution.

It has also faced questions about its legality from the NT Police Association and other legal groups.

But on Wednesday next week, the curfew is set to end – a deadline many locals who the ABC spoke with are anxious about.

"Everything is going to happen again, which I really don't want to happen," Ms Kaur said.

Others not only want the curfew extended, but also expanded.

"Now tourists can feel safe walking around our central district, whereas before no one could leave their rooms," Mr Miller said.

"They should extend [the curfew] and not only set it here, but set [it] in the suburbs."

For others, long-term solutions, including more late-night activities for children, should be prioritised.

"[The curfew] is not going to do anything, it's only a two-week curfew," 24-year-old Shane Gregurke said.

"Once the two weeks are up, then what?

"Kids are going to be back out on the streets running amok."

The NT government is yet to announce whether it will extend the curfew — potentially until the end of the school holidays, which run until April 14.