The harder you look at the whole story, the more elusive it becomes. German reporters from Der Spiegel have even tried examining QR codes on Djokovic’s positive Covid certificate, which they suggest was timestamped Dec 26 rather than Dec 16. But even Der Spiegel admit that there could be other reasons for this discrepancy. The case against Djokovic – with the exception of his one clear admission over the L’Equipe interview – remains tenuous at best.

What will the authorities make of all this? Considering Djokovic’s popularity in Serbia, it is unthinkable that prime minister Ana Brnabic would follow her tough words from Tuesday – in which she said that any failure to self-isolate would be a “clear breach” of the law – by prosecuting him.

As for the Australian government, whatever happened in Serbia is probably irrelevant to the difficult decision on the desk of immigration minister Alex Hawke. It is up to Hawke to say whether Djokovic’s visa should be cancelled or not, and he can make his call at any stage.

The only thing Hawke and the Australian border force are likely to be interested in is the anomaly in Djokovic’s paperwork, which failed to mention his visit to Belgrade within the two weeks preceding his flight to Melbourne.

On Instagram, Djokovic wrote this off as a clerical error by his agent. Strangely, it was the one thing he actually apologised for.

Hawke’s decision is still far from a foregone conclusion, but there is a sense in Australia that the Liberals are not gaining much advantage from persecuting Djokovic.

Every day he stays in Melbourne is another day closer to the start of the Australian Open, with the draw due at 3pm in Australia on Thursday.

And while Djokovic would arrive on the start line with his reputation damaged, Wednesday’s statement has at least offered plausible deniability on the most serious charge: that of endangering the health of multiple children.