UPDATE 11.27am: THE first mercy flight evacuating Australians from strife-torn Egypt has arrived in Germany half-empty.

The Qantas 747 carrying 191 passengers, including 40 children, six babies and three New Zealanders, landed at Frankfurt Airport at 8.30pm local time (6.30am AEDT today).

The free flight was less than half full, despite more than 600 Australians registering for emergency evacuation.

However a DFAT statement said all Australians who wanted to board the flight were able to.

Deputy head of Australia's mission in Berlin, Damian Miller, said three people on the flight were treated by doctors.

He said the flight was half full because some Australians caught commercial flights.

But Melbourne couple Peter and Penny Duncan, halfway through a 65-day international holiday, said there had been a "miscommunication of information" and that people wanting to had been were left behind.

"They seemed to be a little bit behind the play," Ms Duncan said of the Australian government representatives in Cairo, adding that Americans on their tour had been ordered to leave the country on Monday.

"What the tragedy of today was, there was all these people they (consular officials) said to go to a downtown hotel and they didn't get on the plane.

"They met at 9 o'clock as instructed and they didn't get them to the airport by 4 (o'clock) to get on the plane. They are still stuck in the middle of Cairo."

Tracey de Poi of Melbourne said some Australians missed the flight because they were trapped by protesting crowds.

"It was a nightmare. The staff left the passenger manifesto in their hotel.

"It's been emotional but we're so happy to be going home."

Australians who arrived at the airport, in central Germany, said they witnessed scenes of panic at Cairo airport as thousands flooded the terminal trying to get out.

Passengers described encountering violence, hotels on fire and men armed with machine guns on the streets of the city.

"It was quite frightening, terrifying actually," Dorothy Kabisch, 58, of Perth, said.

"There was gunfire through the night and tanks on the street."

Perth student Sarah Soliman, 20, said she witnessed men roaming the streets armed with guns and bats.

"My family were really worried," she said.

"I was scared but I did feel that the protest for democracy has to happen."

Fares Rophail, 68, of Camden in Sydney said the situation in Cairo was "not good".

"There were a lot of vigilantes."

The flight's Qantas pilot said he and the crew were exhausted.

"We're all really tired but we're proud," he said.

The rescue flight left Cairo as protests turned bloody.

Violence unfolded in the city centre where supporters of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak attacked demonstrators calling for the president to leave power.

Thousands of foreigners and Egyptians rushed to Cairo airport and crowded the street outside trying to escape the turmoil.

Australian passengers on flight QF6031 were met in Frankfurt by 15 consular officials and Centrelink officials were on standby to consul distressed travellers.

More than 1200 Australians are registered as still in Egypt, but hundreds more are believed to remain there.

DFAT has received more than 2650 calls since Egypt's pro-democracy uprising began last week.

The high number of requests for help melted the switchboard at the Australian embassy in Cairo.

The Canberra call centre is now being manned by 150 staff 24-hours a day to provide assistance.

Australians in Egypt are encouraged to contact the Consular Emergency Centre in Canberra on +61262613305.

Egypt has rejected calls from the international community for an immediate transition of power, amid deadly protests against President Mubarak's regime.

"What foreign parties are saying about 'a period of transition beginning immediately' in Egypt is rejected," foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki on Wednesday said in a statement, charging that such calls "sought to inflame the internal situation in Egypt".

United States President Barack Obama and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton have called for an immediate transition of power in Egypt, where at least 300 people are reported to have died during nine days of protest.

Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood meanwhile on Wednesday said in a statement there was "no alternative" but ending Mubarak's regime, rejecting his offer to leave after his mandate.

"The people reject all partial measures proposed by the head of the regime (Mubarak), they accept no alternative other than the departure of the regime," the banned but powerful Islamist movement said in a statement.



Originally published as Aussies safely evacuated from Egypt