As Noguchi walks away from the girls he overhears them whispering something.
The narrator says:

> すると五メートルは離れていたはずなのに、野口さんがピクっと立ち止まった。  
>  And then, even though they expected him to be five metres away, he stopped.

I'm confused by the use of は in this sentence. It doesn't seem to be marking a
topic (5 metres would be a strange topic). It doesn't seem to be marking
contrast (5 meters compared 4.2 metres, 9999 metres etc would be nonsense.
Furthermore, the girls expectation that he be exactly 5 meters away is also
silly.

I'm left with the conclusion that this は must mean 'at least', or that I've
hopelessly misinterpreted the sentence. Am I correct? Can you provide other
examples of when/how I should use は in this way?
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2016-03-30T10:26:54.887
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2016-03-30T13:13:16.813
7944
question
grammar particle-は
Can は be used to mean "at least"