Last Thursday, around 1pm, a driver and three removalists parked their truck in front of the Ariele apartment complex on Thomas Holmes St, Maribyrnong, a modern, seven-storey building popular with young renters because of its proximity to central Melbourne.

The three Sydney men, who didn’t realise at least one of them was infected with COVID-19, loaded the truck with furniture. They got back in the vehicle, joined the Western Freeway and drove through the night to Adelaide.