The concept of performance story reporting can be a useful science communication tool to develop a narrative statement about progress towards a natural resource management (NRM) goal. The performance story approach is typically supported by multiple lines of both quantitative and qualitative evidence, and is often augmented by participatory expert judgement. It’s effective for reporting on annual achievements or on longer-term assessments of outcomes and impact. A narrative approach enables the introduction of contextual information such as external factors (e.g. prevailing climate, pest species), the integration of disparate evidence (including expert advice), and where required, data extrapolation or translation to achieve scaling-up. An important component of the performance story approach is to identify lessons learned and ‘implications’, as these can be used to help guide adaptive management into the future. This presentation will focus on a unique area of high ecological significance in the Murray-Darling Basin, the End-of-System (i.e. Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth). This region has the benefit of several long-term monitoring data-sets due to it being a Living Murray Icon Site under the Basin Plan, and a Ramsar listed wetland of international significance. The presentation will briefly cover the context for achieving impactful reporting as guided by performance story theory, science communication and Basin Plan requirements. Factors under the assessment spotlight for the End-of-System theme include: barrage flows, water levels, salinity, Ruppia, migratory birds and threatened small-bodied native fish. Contribution of these factors to the performance story narrative will be briefly discussed.