Faced with rising doubt about whether the required negative test result will arrive in time, people are opting to be tested at the last minute in the terminal.

One Canberran who took a test only got his test result after the flight had left. His experience, with its intense anxiety, has scarred him

He was trying to get to his sick mother in France, so he drove from Canberra to be at the Capital Pathology testing centre in Goulburn at 6.30am so he could be first in the queue.

Goulburn was the nearest centre which could meet the special requirements for international travel. Regular drive-through and walk-in testing centres can't provide the right paperwork.

He was tested on Saturday morning. Initially, he said he was sent the result of a previous test and then the result of the actual test - but not until Monday. The flight left on Sunday night.

He is not allowed to talk to the media but his wife said: "We appreciate that Capital Pathology is inundated with tests but we have to have confidence in the process, and this raises doubts."

The passenger's wife, Felicity de Fombelle, said there was "confusion".

Capital Pathology did not respond to a request for comment.

The case highlights the intensifying problems as the system for testing is overwhelmed by rising numbers.

Airlines say passengers are now switching to get last-minute tests at Sydney Airport, just before boarding.

But that then presents a big problem: if a passenger is infected, they discover their infection in the middle of a crowded terminal.

"More passengers are having their tests at the airport on the day of departure," a spokesman for the airlines association, the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia, said.

"Some passengers are receiving positive results at the airport. They then have the difficulty of how they find their way home."

Infected would-be passengers then tend to head straight to the airport desk, and so put staff in danger. They then have to get home from the airport, perhaps on an interstate flight.

The system of testing at the airport was created only for exceptional cases like passengers who might have got the paperwork wrong. It was not meant for large-scale testing, according to the industry spokesman.

The uncertainties of the system help explain why international travel hasn't taken off despite the great trumpeting about the borders being open last November.

On the latest official figures, there were only 280 "short-term visitor arrivals" to the ACT in November. These would mostly be people coming to see family and friends or on business. Students would not be counted as "short term visitors".

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Last November's 280 visitors were an improvement on November in 2020 when there were 170 visitors - but both figures were only a sliver of the numbers in pre-COVID November, 2019 when there were 9520 visitors.

According to the ACT government, "Our international visitors spent $601.9 million for the year ending September 2019."

It reckoned that 270,853 international visitors came to Canberra in the year to September 2019.

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