I think one thing to keep in mind is that we haven't been here for very long. And as a technological society that is able to be detected or detect something we have been here for something between 70 or 5 years or 0 years depending on the definition. So the great filter is something that hinders us to detect detectable civilizations. But we are at the moment not totally sure if we are already detectable.

So per definition the great filter has to be in front of us as long as we wouldn't be able to find ourselves.