My previous company had a policy that the S/E procedure had to be followed until 3rd segment height at all times. From that point the procedure depended on the visibility.
In IMC the full procedure had to be followed until safety height or if ATC radar was available, the minimum vector altitude.
In VMC, the Captain had the option of tracking as desired as long as terrain clearance was assured. In practice, a visual circuit and landing would be performed.
Typically, if it was a VMC day, the brief would be something like, "track runway heading to 2 dme then turn left heading 260. Once we've reached acceleration altitude, we'll knock it off and return for a visual approach."