Brumbies chief executive Phil Thomson addressed the players on Tuesday morning, discussing the options for when, or if, the team will play again and hygiene protocols.

Non-essential staff have been told to work from home, media asked questions from a distance of 1.5 metres at press conferences and the players are being vigilant with cleanliness despite the uncertain future.

Super Rugby has been suspended for at least two weeks. The competition's bosses had hoped to avoid a shutdown, but decisions by the New Zealand and Australian governments to enforce quarantine periods for travellers made it impossible to continue.

It comes at a horror time for the Brumbies, who are second on the overall standings behind only the Durban Sharks by one point. The Sharks have played one more game than the Brumbies, and the Canberra side has a superior points differential.

"There's a lot of uncertainty ... but just staying ready to do whatever they come up with," lock Caderyn Neville said.

"Normally you've got games to focus on, but at least we can keep some structure in our life to come in here and keep things ticking along."

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Players in the NRL and AFL are being confronted with the possibility of having to take a pay cut if games cannot continue.

Super Rugby players will be in the same position, and could be more vulnerable given they are the only winter competition to suspend matches so far.

Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle said: "There's no reason why [the players] won't be continued to be paid at the moment.

"That's why it's important to make sure we continue to deliver our content to broadcasters ... they've got a situation as broadcasters where content is falling over. So giving them an option they can engage with is important."

Neville added: "[Pay cuts] haven't come up and I'm not sure the timing of when money comes in or out. So it's hard to say if that's going to trickle down to us.

"The things we know: no games for at least two weeks, non-essential staff are not here to limit any potential spread. But we're in a pretty good position in Canberra with not a huge number of cases.

"As long as we're careful with the way we operate, we should be able to stay ready for whatever happens next with the comp. Fingers crossed we can salvage something from the season."

The coronavirus disruption is the latest in a string of off-field distractions for the Brumbies.

The bushfire smoke in Canberra forced them to relocate pre-season training to Newcastle, a state of emergency was declared hours before their first home game as blazes raged near the ACT border before thunderstorms hit in round three.

Super Rugby moved their game against the Japan Sunwolves from Osaka to Wollongong because of coronavirus and now the players are waiting to be told what happens next.

It is hoped Super Rugby bosses will have a solution by the end of the week. The most likely outcome would be playing conference derbies to keep teams within their home countries, but even then there are risks and unknown factors.

"We've spoken about washing hands and getting on top of things. Limiting contact to prevent the spread," prop Tom Ross said.

"There's sanitiser going around the gym, wiping down equipment and just fist bumps for the next few weeks.

"It's always frustrating when games get called off. I got the news on Sunday morning and I had that fear there wouldn't be many games this season, but there was also one final opportunity.

"There's not much we can do about the virus at the moment.There are people way worse off than us at the moment."