The last of 96 witnesses to take the stand, Julie Dempsey, delivered the mental health royal commission a vivid picture of the system it is tasked with fixing.

Key points: Julie Dempsey's evidence about her psychosis concluded four weeks of hearings for Victoria's mental health royal commission

Julie Dempsey's evidence about her psychosis concluded four weeks of hearings for Victoria's mental health royal commission The royal commission will now prepare a report for the Government, to be delivered by October 30, 2020

The royal commission will now prepare a report for the Government, to be delivered by October 30, 2020 The cost of improving the state's mental health care system could come to more than $1 billion

"I get surrounded by people in blue gloves," Ms Dempsey said, recounting one experience in institutionalised care.

"The next thing you're being dragged and forced down with a knee in your back, and you've got some security guard watching you be stripped naked and put in pyjamas.

"How can you preserve any sort of dignity in that situation?"

Later outside the mental health royal commission, she shared a sense of hopeful optimism common among the witnesses.

"I really hope they can deconstruct this whole system and reconstruct something with some humanity," said Ms Dempsey, who lives with psychosis and now advises the Government on the needs of mentally unwell people.

"I have gotten to where I am today in spite of the mental health system, not because of it."

Ms Dempsey's evidence concluded four weeks of hearings, the public centrepiece of an 18-month royal commission aimed at overhauling Victoria's mental health care.

Moments later, in her closing address, commission chair Penny Armytage said the commissioners had been "deeply moved" and "sometimes overcome" by what they had heard.

Chair Penny Armytage has previously described the royal commission as a "once-in-a-lifetime" chance to reform the system. ( ABC News )

Ms Armytage recounted one mother's plea to prevent other parents from having to deal with losing a child to suicide.

"We feel the weight of responsibility in undertaking this work," she said.

"We don't shy away from the challenge, we will work hard to generate genuine change."

A 'billion-dollar' fix

The inquiry was a State Government election promise, made after it was revealed Victoria spent less on mental health than any other state.

People being turned away because they "weren't sick enough" to warrant treatment, and the state's suicide rate are frequently cited as key issues for the commission to address.

There were 720 Victorians who died by suicide last year.

The royal commission will deliver an interim report within four months and final recommendations will be handed down by October 30 next year.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the Government would work to implement those recommendations in full, regardless of the cost.

"It may cost substantially more than $1 billion," he told the ABC.

"But the cost to the community of not acting is much higher."