The response to the identification of cases of pandemic influenza initially followed the guidelines of the Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza (AHMPPI). [3, 5, 6] , Management of the pandemic moved through three phases, described as Delay, Contain, and Protect. An additional phase, Modified Sustain was applied only in Victoria. The phases were designed to delay the entry of pandemic virus into Australia, to contain the virus once it had entered the country, to sustain a response once community transmission had been established and to protect the vulnerable once infection was deemed to be widespread [5, 7] .