We've reached the point all the coronavirus experts told us was just a matter of time - local transmission of COVID-19.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison this week called for calm, asking people to stop clearing the supermarket shelves of toilet paper and that "Australians should continue to go about their lives in their normal way and just exercise common sense".

A customer walks past empty toilet paper shelves at a supermarket in Sydney on March 4, 2020. Credit:Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg

Meanwhile, Attorney-General Christian Porter spelt out existing - as yet unused - biosecurity laws introduced in 2015, which allow the detention of infected citizens if they’re not complying with authorities.