In the small and tight-knit tourism town, rumour and suspicion swirled. On the usually tranquil community Facebook forums, urgent posts of warning were deleted almost as soon as they were posted. "Is this a hoax?" one person asked.

Another asked, "Oh dear why was this not reported?"

On Monday, March 23, Noosa on Queensland's Sunshine Coast learned that one of its cornerstone businesses, Sails Restaurant, had been linked to a cluster of coronavirus cases. In the initial reporting, "multiple people" had tested positive. Within days the number had levelled out around 20 diners and four staff.

What the people of the town did not know was that the restaurant had stayed open for days after learning about the positive tests, and not told the public, apparently on instructions from government health officials.

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As Australia prepares for a surge of COVID-19 cases, Noosa's story is a case study in community panic and confusion.

Possibly hoping to quell fear by limiting information, authorities appear to have instead fostered suspicion and distrust.

Big questions remained unanswered. How long had the restaurant known about the cases? Exactly when had Queensland Health begun testing, and why did it take so long to issue a health alert?

Why was the news broken first as a rumour on community Facebook pages?

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Restaurant alerted

On March 14 a wealthy Brisbane property investor held a private function for 90 people at Sails, to celebrate his 50th birthday. The guests wined and dined long into the night on Moreton Bay bugs and mud crab overlooking the ocean.

Waiters circulated, and so did, it turned out, coronavirus.

At least 24 people at the party were infected that night, including four staff.

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The 'super-spreader' event is one of the largest to have happened in the country, and exactly what epidemiologists had feared in the days leading up to the weekend, when cases around the world were surging. The infection reportedly spread from a single guest who had recently returned from a skiing trip in Aspen.

Australia's COVID-19 restrictions were due to kick in on Monday, though only for gatherings of more than 500. Leading up to that weekend, the Prime Minister had urged Australians to continue their lives as normal, and declared he would be going to watch the weekend footy at a packed stadium.

Lyndon Simmons, the owner of Sails, says Queensland Health phoned him the following Monday, March 16.

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Whatsapp Lyndon Simmons.

He says that day he stood down staff who had worked the private function. They were tested and went into self-quarantine. Not everyone at the restaurant was tested, he says.

"Not everyone was asked to be tested. In fact, they were asked not to be tested, I suppose not to clog the system," he told Hack.

"My secretary who does the pay and has contact with the staff, she presented herself and said, 'I need to be tested'. And they said, 'No, not unless you're showing signs'."

The restaurant was then sanitised, he says, and stayed open for business until the following Monday, March 23. That's seven days from March 16.

However, though some staff had been stood down, it appears the risk of contraction at Sails remained. Queensland Health later (on March 25) issued an alert for anyone who had dined at Sails on March 18 and 19.

Asked about this, Mr Simmons suggested this was because the four staff who had worked the private function - and begun self-quarantine on March 16, may have infected co-workers who then worked March 18 and 19.

"These people probably had co-workers," he said.

"We stood everybody down who had served that night [March 14]."

Timeline of events: Saturday, March 14 - Private function at Sails. 24 infected. Monday, March 16 - Sails owner says Qld Health alerts him to risk. Some staff self-quarantined and some others only tested. Some not tested. Restaurant stays open Wednesday and Thursday, March 18 and 19 - Diners at Sails on these days risked coronavirus exposure, according to later Qld Health alert Friday, March 20 - Qld Health says staff are stood down from this date. Restaurant stays open Sunday, March 22 - Rumours about Sails coronavirus cases circulate on Facebook Monday, March 23 - Restaurant shut as part of national restrictions. Rumours confirmed Wednesday, March 25 - Qld Health issues alert for diners on March 18 and 19

Mr Simmons timeline appears to conflict with Queensland Health's version of events. In a press conference earlier this week, Sunshine Coast public health physician Dr Roscoe Taylor gave a rough chronology of what had happened.

"There was a birthday function held at Sails restaurant back on the 14th of March ... since that time we've become aware of a number of cases," he said.

"We've also learned since that time that four of the staff serving at that function have developed the illness. Two of those staff were serving patrons ... on the Wednesday and on the Thursday [March 18 and 19]."

"The restaurant was already managing the risk of coronavirus infection in a general way without being even aware of this situation at the time."

Lyndon Simmons says the restaurant knew from March 16. Queensland Health says the restaurant did not know until Friday, March 20. In any case, Mr Simmons and Queensland Health agree on two facts: the restaurant stayed open after knowledge of the case, and the public was not made aware.

Dr Taylor says the four staff who had served at the private function were asked to self-quarantine on Friday, March 20.

Neither authorities nor the restaurant told the public what they knew.

The Queensland Health alert for Sails Restaurant went out on March 25 - at least five days after authorities knew of the risk of contraction.

Asked about this delay, and about the timeline of events, Queensland Health referred Hack to the Dr Taylor press conference.

Rumours circulate

The rumours began to circulate in public on Sunday, March 22.

"Please have yourself tested for the virus if you were at Sails restaurant on Saturday night the 14th of March," one person posted on a Noosa community Facebook group. An admin deleted the post, possibly thinking it was a false rumour.

That afternoon, Sails posted on its Facebook page, "The sun is shining in Noosa today!!!"

"We would like to assure our customers that we remain open for business and are working prudently to ensure the safety of our customers and staff," the post reads.

The rumour spread. On Monday morning, on the studiously laidback and expensive Hastings Street, (voted best main street in Australia by Wotif in 2019), a retail worker ducked into Sails to ask the staff about what she'd read.

"Because we share a bathroom with Sails and everything I got quite nervous," the anonymous retail worker told Hack.

"I saw [the post] and thought it can't be true."

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Whatsapp Sails Restaurant at dusk on the waterfront at Noosa Heads.

The woman says a restaurant staff member told her the rumour was not true.

"I rang my husband and said 'It's fine, it's just a rumour'.

"Within five minutes of all that, the story came out in the Sunshine Coast Daily."

Who had known? In an interview with Hack, Noosa Mayor Tony Wellington initially said he'd known about the cases on Friday, March 20, but later said he had in fact found out about the cases in the media on Monday morning, March 23.

"Maybe it was Monday morning. No, it was," he said.

The local state MP Sandy Bolton told Hack she'd heard a rumour about Sails restaurant on Friday evening, and she'd contacted Queensland Health to verify. "Getting verification is very difficult over the weekend," she said.

However, after the interview she texted to say she was mistaken: she'd also heard about the rumour on Monday the 23rd.

Panic spreads

As word got out on Monday, people who had dined at the restaurant after March 14 urgently tried to work out if they'd been exposed.

At that time, Queensland Health had not yet issued a health alert for diners at Sails on March 18 and 19.

A woman who had dined with her husband at Sails on Saturday, March 21, (after the restaurant knew of the cases), to celebrate their wedding anniversary phoned Sails on Monday and was told to email the manager.

She received a generic response that did not address her questions. "I realise that you have recently dined in the restaurant and may have concerns around the misinformation that is circulating currently," the email reads.

The woman, who is from Sydney, told Hack: "The information has been suppressed to try not to alarm the community."

"There's a large push from a tourism perspective - the directive has been to spend your money here."

"If I'd have been educated I would not have gone to Noosa."

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As a measure of public confusion, Facebook groups hungry for information mistakenly linked a March 20 nearby beach wedding with the March 14 birthday at Sails.

The wedding couple were then violently accused of spreading coronavirus.

"I don't know how we've been involved in this," one of the couple told Hack.

"Everyone's a little on edge and there's a bit of hysteria. Somehow a 50th and a wedding have been confused with each other."

"We ended up holding the baby."

On Tuesday, local MP Sandy Bolton asked Queensland Health to investigate why the public had not been told as soon as a case had been identified.

She called this a "communications lag."

"There seemed to be a lag between when things went out on social media that had come from people that knew someone that had been tested," she said.

"The community's expectation is that as soon as there's a case identified, that we know straight away."

On Thursday, Queensland Health issued fresh contact tracing alerts for Noosa. A confirmed case had visited three venues - a surf club, a restaurant and a brewery - over three days from March 13 to March 15. It appears the person was visiting Noosa for a wedding and had nothing to do with the 50th birthday party at Sails.

This time the alert was issued the day after Queensland Health had contacted the venue.

I regret not telling: Sails owner

Lyndon Simmons says he regrets not telling the public earlier.

"I'm sure when I went up for a coffee at Sunshine beach this morning people sort of looked at me sideways," he told Hack.

"They think oh my god he's from that den of virus."

Asked why a member of staff had apparently denied knowledge of the virus to the retail worker on Monday morning, he appeared to suggest that not all staff knew what management knew about the cluster of cases at the restaurant.

"They wouldn't have known until news broke that afternoon," he said.

"Certainly, if it'd been somebody of significance - one of the senior crew or my manager - they would have answered appropriately."

"If you're suggesting that someone was trying to cover up, that's the last thing we'd do."

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Whatsapp Sails restaurant on March 25, after it had been closed.

He claims not telling the public was a "Queensland Health directive."

"Queensland Health told us what to do," he said.

"We relied on them, whether it was telling people, whether it was standing down our people and isolating them. We were under their direction.

"With the benefit of hindsight - this virus is moving so quickly - one can speculate on what you would have done."

He says he'd now definitely tell the public and doubts the wisdom of authorities.

"There should be transparency," he said.

"Particularly now that we know that it's in the community, I can't understand why people aren't self-reporting."