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Today’s episode of Home and Away has seen Xander Delaney leave Summer Bay, in what is believed to be Luke Van Os’s final appearance on the show.

Yesterday’s episode saw Xander (Luke Van Os) reveal to boss Mackenzie (Emily Weir) that he needed to do an internship as part of the business course he’s been studying for the last few months.

He explained that he needed to take part in the internship to enable him to complete his module and pass the course, so asked Mac if he could take some time off from his job as a barman at Salt.

Xander recently decided to enrol on the course to help fulfil his dream of running his own business one day, and has since been completing it off-screen.

More recently, he’d hoped to buy into Salt when Cash (Nicholas Cartwright) was left half of the business by his late sister Felicity (Jacqui Purvis), but Cash eventually opted to sell Flick’s share of the business back to Mackenzie, giving her full control of the restaurant she set up soon after her arrival in the bay.

On top of asking Mackenzie for six weeks off, Xander also hoped that she could help him find a placement, putting her business connections to good use.

Mac agreed to help out, and Xander later explained to girlfriend Dana (Ally Harris) that if Mac couldn’t find him a placement, he’d fail his module.

Dana saw that as a particularly harsh move by the course coordinator, but Xander believed it gave “a taste of the business world, I guess.”

Mac later confirmed that she had contacted one of her friends and left a message, but hadn’t yet heard back, leaving Xander nervous that he wouldn’t find a placement in time.

In today’s episode, after receiving a text back from her friend, Mac confirmed that she’d managed to organise Xander a placement after all – but, there was a catch…

“A placement has suddenly become available,” Mac told an excited Xander. “The bad news is, it’s in Melbourne for six weeks, and it starts the day after tomorrow!”

Xander checked with Dana that she was okay with him leaving Summer Bay for six whole weeks, but Dana gave her blessing and encouraged him to “just call the guy.”

However, despite Dana’s encouragement, it was clear that she was struggling.

As Rose (Kirsty Marillier) went to help her brother pack, John (Shane Withington) noticed the pained look on Dana’s face.

“You’re going to miss him,” he quipped, pointing out the obvious.

As Xander and Dana said goodbye to each other, Xander reassured his girlfriend that “time’s gonna fly by, you won’t even get a chance to miss me.”

“I already do,” Dana replied, holding back tears, before the pair exchanged “I love yous”.

While Xander may only be planning to leave the bay for six weeks, it’s believed that the character is actually making a permanent exit.

Actor Luke Van Os hasn’t been seen filming at Sydney’s Palm Beach – which doubles as Summer Bay’s external scenes – for a number of months, and his Instagram suggests that he’s currently abroad.

Home and Away also confirmed in a promo last week that one character would be departing. The promo teased that “a loved friend will leave the bay,” with the options being Theo (Matt Evans), Dana, Kirby (Angelina Thomson), Xander, Tane (Ethan Browne) and Eden (Stephanie Panozzo).