There’s a mystery about what happens when you call 000. It might be the most important phone call of your life, but there’s no way to test it out first.
Making a non-emergency call to Triple Zero is an offence, carriers warn against testing, and even the shadow communications minister copped backlash for test-calling the service.
Of course, we hope you never have to make a call to emergency services, but it’s important to know what to expect in the event you do have to.
The gap in knowledge around the service may cause people to hang up too early, panic at silence, or otherwise waste valuable seconds in an emergency situation.
Who answers when you call 000?
The first thing you hear is a recorded message informing you that you have dialled emergency 000. After that, an operator employed by Telstra will answer and ask whether you need police, fire, or ambulance, and what location you are calling from.
The operator will then stay on the line until you are “warm transferred” to local emergency services to ensure information is not lost. They will ensure you have two-way communication with local services, who will then organise dispatch.
It’s worth noting that people who have hearing or speech impairments can use the number 106 for textphone or teletypewriter, or the National Relay Service.
If you call Triple Zero and can’t speak for any reason, the call will transfer to an automated system that will ask you to press 55. If you press it, your call will be connected to police. If you ignore it three times, the call will be disconnected.
After your call is transferred
Calling Triple Zero is an identical experience everywhere in Australia. The differences only start after you’re transferred to local emergency services.
You’ll be asked to confirm your location and details by the local emergency service operator. It may feel repetitive, and you may worry that every question delays a vehicle response.
Questions do not slow down dispatch. If the emergency operator believes your situation is life-threatening, an ambulance is dispatched immediately while they continue to ask about the situation.
Answers to these additional questions assist the crews on the road; how many people are involved, their age, whether the scene is safe, and the situation they are responding to.
If later answers reveal the situation is less serious than initially thought, the response can be downgraded, or if the situation is worse, more resources can be sent.
Ambulance phone operators are trained to coach you through first aid and CPR over the phone if necessary, as well as triaging and giving first-response advice for medical issues.
Around one in five Triple Zero calls don’t need a vehicle response. For these, some states transfer the call to a nurse or clinician.
For example, New South Wales ambulance calls route non-life-threatening cases to a registered nurse rather than dispatching a vehicle.
Can Triple Zero see your location?
Advanced Mobile Location (AML) began rollout from December 2020 and finished deployment in August 2021. Since then, AML gives your location to the Triple Zero operator based on GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular network data. It’s accurate to about 5 metres outdoors, or 25 metres indoors.
AML does not work if your phone is camped on to another provider’s network, and for real-world verification the operator will always verbally ask for your location.
What if I have no signal or my network is down?
If your phone can’t reach your carrier network, it automatically attempts the call through other available networks. This is called “emergency camp-on”, and it still works if you have no credit, a disconnected service, or even no SIM card.
There’s a catch, though. Establishing a camp-on connection can take up to 60 seconds. During the Telstra outage in early July, the maximum time stretched to 90 seconds.
During an emergency, it’s understandable that a minute of silence may be unsettling or cause panic. If you don’t know about the delay, you might assume the call has failed and hang up, which restarts the whole process.
The advice is simple: stay on the line. You could try a different phone if you have access to one, but otherwise keeping the call active is the best advice.
Recent history is why this matters so much. We’ve been seeing more and more carrier outages, including the Optus outage in September 2025 that saw over 600 Triple Zero calls fail, Vodafone’s outage in June of this year took MVNOs down with it, and Telstra’s early July outage.
For regional readers: satellite-based text messaging cannot contact Triple Zero, and if there is no mobile coverage on any network, you will be unable to call. A satellite-enabled phone is the best backup in this situation.
Older phones and the 3G shutdown
Since the 3G shutdown, some phones that work for normal calls and data cannot reliably dial Triple Zero. Handsets that revert to 3G for emergency calls have been blocked because of the Emergency Call Service Determination.
Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone networks have been blocking waves of devices since late 2025. This is a rolling process; once your carrier notifies that your device is affected, you have 28 days to update or replace the device before it is blocked from all Australian networks.
There’s a wide range of affected models, but over 70 older Samsung models, the Oppo A53s, and certain Apple devices running older firmware are among the headliners. Grey import devices and international handsets often lack Australian emergency calling configurations, meaning they will eventually be blocked.
If your carrier emails or texts you about your handset being blocked, it’s time to update the software or start shopping around.
What happens when you call 000: Key things to remember
- Stay on the line. If you hang up, the operator may try to call you back. If you dial by mistake, it’s better to stay on the line and say so rather than ghosting Triple Zero.
- If your network is down, you may experience up to a minute of silence on the line while your call tries to find an available network. That’s normal.
- 000 is for life-threatening or time-sensitive emergencies.
- For non-emergency police calls Australia-wide, use 131 444.
- For emergency property risk like falling trees, roof damage, or structural damage, call SES on 132 500.
- If you have difficulty hearing or speaking, you can dial 106.
- If you can’t speak on the phone, press 55 to be transferred to police.
We hope you don’t have to use this advice, but it’s important to know what to expect.
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