Code 1: Minute by Minute

Terrifying images of Australians turning on one another are burnt into our memories. First responders and eyewitnesses recall the events that led to Australia's day of shame.

On 28 February 2022 a disastrous weather event like no other destroyed thousands of homes in Lismore. In record breaking flood waters locals risked their lives to save thousands in their community.

On 21st February 2017 a Beechcraft B200 King Air aircraft operating a charter flight, carrying a pilot and four passengers bound for King Island crashed, just 10 seconds after taking off from Essendon Airport in Melbourne, Australia. The pilot made mayday calls before the aircraft clipped the roof of the Essendon Direct Factory Outlets (DFO) building, which had not yet begun the day's trading, and then smashed into the ground a few metres away and burst into flames. It was the worst civil aviation accident in Victoria in 30 years.

On December 15, 2014, 18 people were taken hostage in Sydney's Lindt cafe. Eyewitnesses and first responders explain what happened minute by minute in the months and weeks leading up to the horror.

The Childers Palace Backpacker Hostel in Queensland was accommodation for 88 young world travellers when itinerant fruit picker Robert Paul Long deliberately set fire to the place.

In 2002 Bali nightclubs were bombed killing 88 Australians. Three years later terrorists bombed restaurants killing another 20 people. Stories of survival told by first responders & eyewitnesses.

A country passenger train travelling towards Melbourne was struck by a semi-trailer that had been travelling at 100 kilometres per hour at 1:40pm on the 5th June 2007. First hand accounts from emergency workers and survivors.

Shortly after the commencement of the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, a 'super cell' storm stirred up massive seas in the Bass Strait. Thirty aircraft took part in the rescue operation.