We had a noon flight to SFO on UA. We had a car scheduled for 9:30 to get us there at 10; it showed up early with the driver saying we could wait but he encouraged us to leave a bit early. So we did and got to SYD before 10. Could have been overkill, but we were flying Business/First and I do not know what it was like a half hour later (or earlier during the action that ended at 9)or if United was giving Express Pass to Economy passengers
We checked our bags with no wait and got in the Express Pass line for border control.
That queue took about 10 minutes. The line used the SmartGate Departure kiosk/gate, which we had never used before but had looked up online the night before. It works really well and we plan to use SmartGate for arrivals and departures if possible in the future. (The Departure one is newer and is one stage unlikecthe Arrivals one.)
Long walk to gate area after security but an hour in the great lounge worked!
I can imagine that without Express Pass it was a drag betwen 7-9. The day before, border control lines stretched back to checkin counters, according to news reports. I think that is a peak time.