This paper relies on nested postulates of separate, linear and arc-continuity of functions to define analogous properties for sets that are weaker than the requirement that the set be open or closed. This allows three novel characterisations of open or closed sets under convexity or separate convexity postulates: the first pertains to separately convex sets, the second to convex sets and the third to arbitrary subsets of a finite-dimensional Euclidean space. By relying on these constructions, we also obtain new results on the relationship between separate and joint continuity of separately quasiconcave, or separately quasiconvex functions. We present examples to show that the sufficient conditions we offer cannot be dispensed with.