The Canberra Capitals will depart for Townsville next Friday ahead of their WNBL championship defence with 12 players and a large support staff relocating to north Queensland for potentially more than six weeks.
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Each player will live in a serviced apartment for the compressed season which will be played entirely out of Townsville, Mackay and Cairns as a solution to staging the league amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
A full fixture is yet to be released, but will involve 56 regular season matches, 14 per team, the majority of which will be played in Townsville.
Should the Capitals need to head north to Cairns or south to Mackay, they will travel on a team coach. If the fixture presents the Capitals with back-to-back matches in Mackay and then Cairns, or vice versa, they will travel on a plane between the cities.
Successfully completing a hat-trick of WNBL championships could mean playing 17 games in just 39 games, with the postseason to feature two semi-finals, a prelim and a decider - all of which will be one-off encounters.
WNBL league officials have stressed the season will not be played under 'Bubble' conditions, which have been used to facilitate the AFL and NRL, and now the Women's Big Bash League.
Players and staff have been advised to take care during their stay in Queensland, but will be able to take advantage of the state's more relaxed virus restrictions.
"It'll be great to be somewhere different, up north and bring basketball to a whole different crowd," new signing Hannah Kaser said.
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"It will be tough but I think it'll also be a great challenge for teams. It'll show the teams with the great culture.
"It's a bit of uncharted territory which makes it really exciting and a super great opportunity to be a part of. You've got to leave it all out there and go hard from the beginning."
Kaser was unveiled as the Capitals' latest signing on Tuesday morning, and will help replace US college-bound Gemma Potter who is not allowed to play in the league this season.
Potter is yet to travel to the USA due to the pandemic, but American college students are only permitted to play in amateur leagues.