Australia’s only voluntary euthanasia laws came into force in the state of Victoria on Wednesday, with the government saying it had extensive safeguards to prevent the process being misused while giving people a choice over how they die.

Only residents over the age of 18 who are in intolerable pain with an incurable illness that will likely cause death within six months, or 12 months for neurodegenerative diseases, are eligible.

Cases are approved by doctors under strict guidelines. An assisted dying kit will be delivered to them in a locked box, and the patient must then mix the lethal drug and drink it themselves.

The drug is being kept confidential to avoid copycats, but has been likened to Pentobarbital, which is used in the US to execute criminals.

Medical experts say the patient would soon become unconscious, and die in about an hour.