In terms of preparing the Gabba for its annual season-opening cricket Test, no man's job is more important than Kevin Mitchell Jnr.

The curator has no doubt the pitch will be ready to go, if the grief-stricken Australian side feel up to playing in the same week they attend Phillip Hughes' funeral.

But that's a very big if.

The first Test was slated to start on Thursday.

It was delayed on Saturday so players can attend Hughes's service at Macksville High School on Wednesday.

Cricket Australia is yet to confirm whether the game will start this week, be rescheduled for later in summer, or abandoned completely.

The big question is when players will feel ready for the toughest Test of their cricket careers.

CA remained locked in discussions with its Indian counterpart on Sunday, but chief executive James Sutherland's priority is the welfare of those mourning the desperately unlucky death of a close friend.

It means every aspect of the Test in Brisbane is up in the air.

"We're just in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment," Mitchell Jnr told AAP.

"We're waiting to hear more and we'll adjust our program accordingly.

"Our final four days is pretty important, so we've been able to delay the most intense part of the preparation until we know more.

"The weather is pretty good, so it's all achievable."

Australian Cricketers Association chief Alastair Nicholson asked for patience on Saturday regarding the uncertainty.

"The players are going through a grieving process and they must be afforded the opportunity to do so. As anyone can appreciate, this process doesn't run according to a clock or a calendar," Nicholson said.

"This is a unique situation and a unique response is required."

India are still planning on travelling to Brisbane on Monday, working on the assumption the game will start later this week.

Tickets sales have been suspended for the game, with CA looking at a range of scenarios with players, the Indian board, the ICC and its TV broadcasters.

The jam-packed schedule this summer means rescheduling the Test would likely mean changing dates of other matches.

If the four-Test series does start this week, Mitchell Jnr will bring one tiny degree of ordinary to a situation that would be anything but.

"It'd be fairly similar to a typical Gabba deck, hopefully something with a bit for everyone," he said.

"It's actually the same (Test) pitch as the last few years - we've been able to bring up the same wicket, No.4 in the middle."

Last year it was the scene of Mitchell Johnson's Ashes rebirth, terrorising England's batsmen with his short-pitched bowling.

The crowd was bedazzled with an England side "petrified" in the words of Kevin Pietersen.

It seems a world away now, one of many reasons the first Test remains in serious doubt.