A 1000-bed quarantine facility in Toowoomba proposed by the Queensland government and the Wagner Corporation could be built and operated without any taxpayer assistance, company chairman John Wagner says.

As debate intensified over the safety of hotel quarantine, suggestions that Victoria could stop or severely curtain its program and a deal on major expansion of the Howard Springs quarantine facility near Darwin – which has so far cost taxpayers $243.7 million – very close, Mr Wagner said his proposed facility could run on the quarantine fee paid by returning travellers.