You could usually get a coastal transit through the zone, but it needed a clearance.
In (I think) 1991 Victor 1 was created, 500' over water with a straight line from Malabar to Bondi to keep those nasty helicopters away from those gold-plated aeroplanes 1500' above them. But also the Chopper Lanes were created, through R405, to allow free movement over the harbour at 1000' east of the bridge and 500' along the Parramatta River. The TV lanes were created to allow access into Willoughby for Ch 9 and 2, and up the Lane Cove River for Ch 10 - Ch 7 was already outside the zone at Epping.
The straight line in V1 put single-engine choppers over water outside auto range, a bit of a quandary, so it was possible to ask for a clearance to hug the coast if traffic allowed. To highlight the stupidity of this straight line limit, I took one of the CA$A FOIs up and sat over the beach, on the extended centreline of Rwy 25 at 1000'. On the sight line between us and the runway threshold was a thumping big pine tree in Randwick or Kingsford, so any plane would have to be well above that line to be safe. But Howie just shrugged and said "Them's the rules."