This is what I have for contacts in the yaml file.
contacts:
index: true
list: true
record: true
Yes I have admin rights
I don’t know enough about rewriteRules to help you.
But a good rule is thumb is this: you should never see “public” in your browser URLs. If you see them, your system don’t work. It is then irrelevant where it breaks or which messages it throws in the logs…
OK sorted out the virtual host I land on this:
https://domain/#/Login
and I get these errors on the dashboard (contacts still not showing details)
Deprecated : usort(): Returning bool from comparison function is deprecated, return an integer less than, equal to, or greater than zero in /home/kconsu5/public_html/SuiteCRM8/public/legacy/modules/SugarFeed/Dashlets/SugarFeedDashlet/SugarFeedDashlet.php on line 423
Weirdly, you can access all your modules on the SuiteCRM except Contacts 
Solution: 
Admin → Studio → Contacts → Layouts → Edit/Detail View → Reset Default
Thank you for marking it as solution. It will help others in the future 