It began with a phone call from the other side of the world. Kelly Bayer Rosmarin was waiting at the airport after a run-of-the-mill business trip to the United States. Beside the Optus chief executive was her marquee hire, former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian. The pair were waiting to board a Qantas flight home. The call, however, meant it was a flight Bayer Rosmarin would never make.

It was Wednesday afternoon in Sydney, and late evening on Tuesday in America. Chief information officer Mark Potter was on the line, and the news was not good.