Neighbours - has Ned Willis left for good?

 Ben Hall's exit scenes aired on Tuesday.

Neighbours aired a bittersweet farewell for Ned Willis on Tuesday (May 10) as he bowed out from Erinsborough for a fresh start in Sydney.

Ned decided to leave Ramsay Street following his messy love triangle with Amy Greenwood and Harlow Robinson, realising that his cheating scandal had brought out the worst in everyone.

Although Ned was leaving under a cloud after his bad behaviour, there was a ray of hope when he received an unexpected text from his ex-girlfriend Yashvi Rebecchi, who suggested that they should reconnect once he was in Sydney.

Here's our quick guide to Ned's departure.

Has Ned Willis left Neighbours?

The sad news for Ned fans is that Ben Hall has now left Neighbours as a regular cast member.

 exclusively revealed Ned's departure in March, when he filmed his exit scenes, and the show itself announced the news at the end of April.

In a recent chat with , Ben explained that it was the right time for Ned to leave, as the show is currently wrapping up storylines ahead of a nostalgia-filled finale for Neighbours in August.

Ben told us: "That was just the end of my contract. For the show, once they knew that Channel 5 wasn't picking up the [Neighbours] contract, they needed to get some storylines sorted out.

"There was definitely a bunch of cast leaving in order to open up some new storylines, ways for people to come back and all that sort of stuff.

"I think it made sense for Ned to go at the time."

Some fans have expressed dismay over Ned leaving in everyone's bad books, but Ben pointed out that it wasn't entirely out of character.

He said: "You know what? He came in as a bit of a bad boy, and he leaves as a bit of a bad boy. I didn't mind that ending, really. I thought it was quite fitting for Ned."

Will Ned Willis return to Neighbours?

While Ned is no longer a show regular and will be removed from the show's opening titles this week, Neighbours bosses recently announced that we'll see him again before the soap ends.

Ned was included in the list of 23 returnees announced by Channel 5 at the weekend.

Yashvi Rebecchi will also be returning, so we'll hopefully get some updates on whether they managed to work things out or not.

Neighbours' executive producer Jason Herbison recently said: "Whether the eighties, nineties, noughties or teens is your favourite decade, we will be delivering something for everyone as Neighbours draws to a close.

"Alongside the current cast we will be celebrating the most memorable characters from across many eras, with a few surprises up our sleeve."

Neighbours superfans are also still holding out hope for Ned to finally share a scene with his mum Beth Brennan, who was played by Natalie Imbruglia between 1992 and 1994.

Before Ned left, he mentioned that he wanted to spend some time with his mum.

Natalie has also said that she'd be open to returning to Neighbours, although she hasn't been announced to make a comeback so far.

Ben recently told : "I would love to do a scene with Natalie Imbruglia. I'm open to that. It's up to the powers that be."

Neighbours airs weekdays at 1.45pm and 6pm on Channel 5 and streams on My5. In Australia, the show airs Mondays to Thursdays at 6.30pm on 10 Peach and streams on 10 Play.