This week the Crossroads Hotel, one of the first Sydney watering holes on the highway inbound from virus-hit Melbourne, transformed from local pub to national metaphor. Which way is Australia heading as it manages a global pandemic which has infected 14 million people and killed almost 600,000?

Up in Queensland, the winter holiday amusement park attractions are busy. Down in Melbourne, intensive-care beds are being prepared for the worst. Virus hotspots there range from the tower block homes of the lowest-paid to posh city law offices.