It has been suggested that Australia did well in its response to managing the pandemic, specifically in delaying establishment of community transmission [17] . During this time preparations were made to respond to a pandemic that was anticipated to result in many deaths. However, based on epidemiological and modelling evidence, we have demonstrated that community transmission was almost certainly established in the state of Victoria around the time the virus was first recognised in North and Central America in late April 2009 [18] . This followed one or more unrecognised silent importations, and spread of the virus in Australia came substantially from within its borders rather than from overseas. We now know that this is an entirely plausible scenario, given that a significant proportion of pH1N1 infections were afebrile [19] or entirely asymptomatic [20] and therefore impossible to detect at the border -or anywhere else.