diff --git a/conda-environment.yml b/conda-environment.yml
index 8f18e2f97..b8196ebd6 100644
--- a/conda-environment.yml
+++ b/conda-environment.yml
@@ -23,9 +23,11 @@ dependencies:
   - pyproj >=2.5
   - shapely >=2.0
   - jsonschema >=4.18
+  - gdal
   - lark
   - netcdf4
   - numpy
+  - odc-geo
   - pandas
   - psycopg2
   - python-dateutil
@@ -38,3 +40,4 @@ dependencies:
   - xarray >=0.9
   - toolz
   - odc-geo
+  - minizip ==4.0.6
diff --git a/docs/about/whats_new.rst b/docs/about/whats_new.rst
index 6f9dc2389..0128ccc27 100644
--- a/docs/about/whats_new.rst
+++ b/docs/about/whats_new.rst
@@ -8,6 +8,17 @@ What's New
 v1.9.next
 =========
 
+v1.9.0-rc6 (17th June 2024)
+===========================
+
+Bugfix pre-release.
+
+The 1.9.0 branch will remain in pre-release until we have working 1.9-compatible versions of the following
+key ODC packages: `datacube-explorer`, `datacube-ows`, `eodatasets`, and `odc-apps-dc-tools`.
+Work on migrating these packages is underway, and this pre-release addresses issues identified in
+the course of that work.
+
+- Update whats_new.rst and dropped nominal support for Windows, ready for 1.9.0-rc6 release. (:pull:`1598`)
 - Fix multi-threading race condition in config API. (:pull:`1596`)
 - Move alembic.ini to a location where it will get installed by pip (without -e). (:pull:`1597`)