diff --git a/docs/release/release_0_6_5.md b/docs/release/release_0_6_5.md
index 5f7e6ba4b..56ab46eea 100644
--- a/docs/release/release_0_6_5.md
+++ b/docs/release/release_0_6_5.md
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 # napari 0.6.5
-⚠️ *Note: these release notes are still in draft while 0.6.5 is in release candidate testing.* ⚠️
 
-*Fri, Sep 26, 2025*
+*Wed, Oct 1, 2025*
 
 We're happy to announce the release of napari 0.6.5!
 napari is a fast, interactive, multi-dimensional image viewer for Python.
@@ -16,13 +15,17 @@ napari follows [EffVer (Intended Effort Versioning)](https://effver.org/); this
 
 ## Highlights
 
+This a sizeable release containing a few new exciting features and a lot of bugfixes.
+
+### EffVer and no more _alpha_
+It is our first release officially following the [EffVer versioning scheme](https://effver.org/). We also took this occasion to (finally!) remove the `Alpha` qualifier from the project ([#8288](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8288)), to better reflect the reality of the extensive use of napari in production. Note that these changes are just formally bringing up to date the state of the project: our development continues as before!
+
 ### Define a startup script for custom launch behaviour
 Do you have a code snippet that you always find yourself running after you launch napari? No more! You can now put this code in a script and set its path in the new `startup script` setting ([#8188](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8188)), and it will be executed every time napari opens. It's just a python script, so sky's the limit :) We found it particularly useful for adding custom colormaps, setting up the scale bar *just right*, or automatically launching our favourite plugin on startup.
 
 ![Screenshot of the application settings menu highlighting the field for the startup script path](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7b0e5e5c-252b-45a0-ae76-aac88e488cbc)
-
 ### Automatically tiled overlays and ColorBar overlay
-Canvas overlays such as `scale_bar`, `text_overlay`, and `colorbar` overlay are now automatically tiling ([#7836](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/7836)), preventing annoying overlap and making them easier to use without having to manage positioning. Wait, `colorbar` overlay you said? You heard it right! This is a new overlay ([#7832](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/7832))that shows a color bar legend, and it works with any layer which uses a colormap. All of this works seamlessly with multiple overlays and even grid mode:
+Canvas overlays such as `scale_bar`, `text_overlay`, and `colorbar` overlay are now automatically tiling ([#7836](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/7836)), preventing annoying overlap and making them easier to use without having to manage positioning. Wait, `colorbar` overlay you said? You heard it right! This is a new overlay ([#7832](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/7832)) that shows a color bar legend, and it works with any layer which uses a colormap. All of this works seamlessly with multiple overlays and even grid mode:
 
 ```py
 import napari
@@ -46,20 +49,22 @@ for layer in layers:
 
 ![Image depicting the napari viewer in grid mode with scale bars and color bars enabled](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/622b2d36-11a7-4c55-9550-c82ddebc2fda)
 
+Alternatively, you may also activate the `colorbar` (and other layer-related overlays such as `bounding_box`) from the graphical interface by right clicking on selected layers in the layerlist and toggling the relative entries in the **Visualization** submenu ([#8319](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8319)).
+
 ### Task manager will now try to prevent losing unfinished work
 We added a new task manager ([#8211](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8211)) which automatically registers any running `thread_worker`, showing a confirmation dialog if you attempt to close napari while a task is running.
 
-### New `remove()` and `pop()` methods for Points and Shapes
+### New *remove* and *pop* methods for Points and Shapes
 Points and Shapes can now be easily removed, not just added :P ([#8031](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8031) and [#8072](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8072)).
 
-### A new and updated guide on napari Preferences
-Our documentation on the napari Preferences has received a major overhaul! [Check it out here](https://napari.org/stable/guides/preferences.html#preferences)!
+### A few shiny new updates to our website and documentation
+[napari.org](https://napari.org/) can now be visited in *dark mode* ([docs#840](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/840))! You could try out this new relaxing colorscheme while exploring the new overhauled [Preferences documentation](https://napari.org/stable/guides/preferences.html#preferences) section 😉 ([docs#834](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/834)).
+There's also new sections on [viewer overlays](https://napari.org/stable/tutorials/fundamentals/viewer.html#viewer-overlays) and [layer overlays](https://napari.org/stable/guides/layers.html#layer-overlays), to better explain how to use these old and new tools.
+Our [release notes page](https://napari.org/dev/release/index.html) also received a glow-up ([docs#838](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/838)), displaying past release highlights in collapsible boxes in the timeline. This should make it easier to quickly catch up when updating across multiple releases!
 
-TODO: does this link work?
+### Extra dependencies for development moved to dependency groups
+A note for our contributors and plugin developers: we transferred our dev-related extra dependencies to the new python dependency groups ([#8227](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8227)). The installation is therefore slightly different, for example: `pip install napari --group testing` instead of `pip install napari[testing]`. The previous method will continue to work, but we will likely remove the old `optional-dependences` approach in a future release.
 
-- Migrate non-user extras to dependency-groups ([#8227](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8227))
-- [maint] Drop alpha mentions ([#8288](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8288))
-- Auto generate release index with highlights and timeline ([docs#838](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/838))
 
 ## New Features
 
@@ -78,6 +83,8 @@ TODO: does this link work?
 - Add "Hide completed" checkbox to Tracks layer for improved visualization ([#8253](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8253))
 - Handle affine layer metadata when splitting RGB images ([#8256](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8256))
 - Update the Shapes select_all_shapes action to allow selection in all modes and add notification of number ([#8292](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8292))
+- Implement toggling colorbar and bounding box in layerlist context menu ([#8319](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8319))
+- Add warning for big stride when toggling grid mode ([#8320](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8320))
 
 ## Bug Fixes
 
@@ -99,6 +106,7 @@ TODO: does this link work?
 - Use EffVer ([#8243](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8243))
 - Use shared workflows for build docs ([#8308](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8308))
 - Bump napari-sphinx-theme in deps and constraints ([#8315](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8315))
+- Update release notes 0.6.5 for full release ([docs#855](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/855))
 - Add funding information to the home page ([docs#818](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/818))
 - Update version switcher for 0.6.4 ([docs#826](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/826))
 - Fix version switcher URL to prevent problems with unversioned pages ([docs#827](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/827))
@@ -113,12 +121,12 @@ TODO: does this link work?
 - Add some info about running python scripts via cli ([docs#847](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/847))
 - Add note about workers registration as tasks and close confirmation dialog when closing napari GUI via close button ([docs#851](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/851))
 - Release notes v0.6.5 ([docs#853](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/853))
+- Re-add palette shortcut to viewer guide ([docs#854](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/854))
+- Add overlays to docs ([docs#857](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/857))
 
 ## Other Pull Requests
 
-- Improve workflow naming by prefixing triage- doc- make- ([#8159](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8159))
 - Move the test that requires `make_napari_viewer` from `test_qt_viewer` ([#8176](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8176))
-- Bump `superqt` min version ([#8212](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8212))
 - Change headless setup for Windows and Linux to `pyvista/setup-headless-display-action` ([#8216](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8216))
 - Update `coverage`, `hypothesis`, `pint`, `pyopengl`, `virtualenv`, `xarray` ([#8221](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8221))
 - [pre-commit.ci] pre-commit autoupdate ([#8222](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8222))
@@ -147,6 +155,7 @@ TODO: does this link work?
 - [maint] Revert docs constraints changes from #8270 ([#8307](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8307))
 - Fix constraints generation  ([#8309](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8309))
 - CI: Fix `github.rest.issues.removeLabel` call ([#8311](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8311))
+- Fix little typos ([#8316](https://github.com/napari/napari/pull/8316))
 - Add pooch cache for build docs ([docs#830](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/830))
 - ci(dependabot): bump the github-actions group with 3 updates ([docs#831](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/831))
 - add docs/release/index.md to gitignore ([docs#843](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/843))
@@ -155,15 +164,17 @@ TODO: does this link work?
 - Use shared workflow for build docs ([docs#850](https://github.com/napari/docs/pull/850))
 
 
-## 12 authors added to this release (alphabetical)
+## 14 authors added to this release (alphabetical)
 
 (+) denotes first-time contributors 🥳
 
+- [Constantin Aronssohn](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=cnstt) - @cnstt
 - [Daniel Althviz Moré](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=dalthviz) ([docs](https://github.com/napari/docs/commits?author=dalthviz))  - @dalthviz
 - [Grzegorz Bokota](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=Czaki) ([docs](https://github.com/napari/docs/commits?author=Czaki))  - @Czaki
 - [Jaime Rodríguez-Guerra](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=jaimergp) ([docs](https://github.com/napari/docs/commits?author=jaimergp))  - @jaimergp
 - [Johannes Soltwedel](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=jo-mueller) - @jo-mueller
 - [Juan Nunez-Iglesias](https://github.com/napari/docs/commits?author=jni) - @jni
+- [Jules Vanaret](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=jules-vanaret) - @jules-vanaret
 - [Kanai Potts](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=8bitbiscuit) - @8bitbiscuit
 - [Lorenzo Gaifas](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=brisvag) ([docs](https://github.com/napari/docs/commits?author=brisvag))  - @brisvag
 - [Melissa Weber Mendonça](https://github.com/napari/docs/commits?author=melissawm) - @melissawm
@@ -172,7 +183,7 @@ TODO: does this link work?
 - [rwkozar](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=rwkozar) - @rwkozar
 - [Tim Monko](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=TimMonko) ([docs](https://github.com/napari/docs/commits?author=TimMonko))  - @TimMonko
 
-## 15 reviewers added to this release (alphabetical)
+## 16 reviewers added to this release (alphabetical)
 
 (+) denotes first-time contributors 🥳
 
@@ -185,6 +196,7 @@ TODO: does this link work?
 - [Jaime Rodríguez-Guerra](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=jaimergp) ([docs](https://github.com/napari/docs/commits?author=jaimergp))  - @jaimergp
 - [Johannes Soltwedel](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=jo-mueller) - @jo-mueller
 - [Juan Nunez-Iglesias](https://github.com/napari/docs/commits?author=jni) - @jni
+- [Jules Vanaret](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=jules-vanaret) - @jules-vanaret
 - [Lorenzo Gaifas](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=brisvag) ([docs](https://github.com/napari/docs/commits?author=brisvag))  - @brisvag
 - [Melissa Weber Mendonça](https://github.com/napari/docs/commits?author=melissawm) - @melissawm
 - [Peter Sobolewski](https://github.com/napari/napari/commits?author=psobolewskiPhD) ([docs](https://github.com/napari/docs/commits?author=psobolewskiPhD))  - @psobolewskiPhD