Jai Galliott and his fiancee Sasha have no idea when they will see each other. He is an academic in Canberra but she is now in Russia.
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The block on virtually all international travel means they have no idea when they will be together.
Love doesn't count as an officially recognised exception.
"We planned a marriage, but that had to be delayed. We are now looking at what could be a year or more," Dr Galliott said.
"There's no light at the end of the tunnel."
Sasha's daughter from a previous relationship had come to call Dr Galliott "Pappa".
Three-year-old Alice keeps asking: "Where is Pappa?", to be told that she can't see him because the planes aren't flying.
When Alice sees a plane flying in Russia, the child says "The planes are flying again. Let's go and see Pappa."
Dr Galliott, who lives near Batemans Bay and works for the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra. thinks his relationship is strong.
"I'm confident my relationship will make it through this, but for many people, this will mean the end of their relationship," he said.
Online groups have formed to share information about how to get exemptions from the block against leaving Australia.
The postings give a glimpse of countless tales of anguish:
"My father is on his death bed in Europe, I have the tickets to travel hopefully in time to say goodbye. I lodge an application and very promptly receive a request for more information (most of which was already provided)."
"My mother is being admitted to a hospice in the UK and does not have much longer. I submitted my request on Wednesday night June 17 with a travel date of June 22, I then got a phone call from my father saying her condition had declined dramatically."
"I am stressed out beyond belief and desperate to get home to see my mother."
"We are both 38 (so not spring chickens) who also had serious plans to try for a baby this year," from an Australian whose partner is in the United States.
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A pregnant woman writes that the father of her yet-to-be-born child is stuck abroad: "We only want him here on a tourist visa for the birth of our child. We are due in seven weeks. We offered to pay the hotel quarantine for him and proved that we have places to stay and the funds to finance the trip."
Applications for exemptions are dealt with by the Australian Border Force. A spokesman said travel restrictions had been successful in slowing the spread of coronavirus and decisions to grant exemptions for travel must be balanced against the greater health good.
But Dr Galliott says that the government is being "draconian" by doing far more than is necessary to stop the spread of coronavirus.
It could simplify the procedures for partners to get exemptions to travel abroad and return safely.
"To be denied my fundamental rights at such a difficult time is completely ludicrous. I understand that the government is trying to prevent harm but I don't think the government should be causing harm to another group of people."
The Australian Border Force demands reams of documentation from people who want to leave Australia, even though by leaving they are taking any danger out of the country.
Dr Galliott is a legal expert and he thinks the current restrictions break international law. He feels he and the others could be allowed to travel with very strict conditions attached - but not as strict as the current ones.
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
