The end of our weekly shifts used to be a 0800 - 1340 then back at 2300 until 0800.
IF it wasn't too busy at night, used to be able to get 1 hr of sleep on a chair or something around 0200 - 0400 for everybody on duty, then it was all on from then, just after 0500 was rough going, the PG would start to open up on 12 and then 16Mhz and it was really tough going until 0720 or so, when you knew that the end was in sight at 0800.
So for me, that bit 0500 - 0700 is the worst.
ETA, Gold bars would not get me to do a night shift nowadays, either amateur or professionally.