The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Indonesian Defence Attache's office, the High Court of Australia and the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence were all in search of the same thing.

They each phoned Dalton's bookshop in Canberra requesting copies of Spycatcher, the book about the British Intelligence network by former spy Peter Wright.

So did the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs and a swag of individuals.

"The book is just walking out the door," the manager of the bookshop, Ms Ann Dalton, said. "The phone has been ringing all day."

Copies of Spycatcher, rush-printed in Melbourne for the Heinemann publishing house in the 15 days since the High Court lifted the ban on its publication and distribution, arrived in Canberra about 8.30am the day before.

The phone at Dalton's began ringing at 9am, signalling the start of an extraordinary scramble for a single title. Heinemann, whose executives had decided on the almost unprecedented first run of 50,000 hardback copies, has been forced to re-evaluate.

The publisher received firm orders for 62,000 copies within days of the High Court's decision.

The first run was reported to now to be 70,000, and the presses had been working overtime - 15 days ago Heinemann's spokespeople were saying there was no chance that the book would be on the shelves for at least three weeks.

Spycatcher has not even been launched officially - the launching is not due until October 21, in Melbourne.

The next shipment of the book to arrive in Canberra was due at the end of November.

See https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122107567/12979955