A NSW health official has been reduced to tears after it was suggested there'd been a "reprehensible shortcoming" by the department when Ruby Princess passengers were allowed to disembark in Sydney.
Senior epidemiologist Kelly-Anne Ressler was on Tuesday questioned during a special commission of inquiry hearing into the Ruby Princess cruise ship which docked at Circular Quay on 19 March.
Ms Ressler - coordinator of the department's cruise ship health program - told the commission an expert health panel had been created specifically to look into the risks of COVID-19 earlier in 2020.
Although not part of the panel, she was involved in providing "assistance and suggestions" towards a draft protocol document, which was released on 19 February.
The protocol suggested all passengers visit a ship's medical centre if they had respiratory symptoms and a fever, with isolation to follow.
But, Ms Ressler said, while a ship was at sea she had "no jurisdiction" to control what actions were taken.
Some 2,700 passengers were allowed to disembark on 19 March and the ship has since been linked to more than 20 coronavirus deaths and 600 infections across Australia.
The federal department overseeing biosecurity arrangements has said NSW Health "advised there were no issues preventing disembarkation".
Commissioner Bret Walker SC asked Ms Ressler why he "should not draw the conclusion that there has been a reprehensible shortcoming from NSW Health".
The Ruby Princess cruise ship departs Port Kembla in Wollongong, NSW. Source: AAP
"All I can say is that I'm very sorry it turned out the way it did, it was not our intention," she replied as she fought back tears.
"Myself and my colleagues at the public health unit were working very hard on this. We did what we could and if we could do it again it would be very different."
The commission was told after the ship arrived into Sydney early on 19 March, the swabs from sick passengers were "put into the queue as per normal" for COVID-19 testing rather than being expedited.
"My understanding is the technician didn't realise they were cruise ship samples ... and they were not tested as a priority," Ms Ressler said.
The ship had been deemed low-risk by an expert health panel after 0.94 per cent of people on board presented to the medical centre with relevant flu-like symptoms.
In order to be deemed a greater risk in line with the state's draft guidelines, it needed to be equal to or greater than 1 per cent to indicate an outbreak had occurred.
The inquiry heard throughout the hearing there were low swab availabilities aboard the ship, as documented in messages shared between Ms Ressler and the onboard doctor.
Counsel Assisting the Inquiry Richard Beasley on Tuesday said the Ruby Princess's permission to dock in Sydney was initially cancelled by the NSW Port Authority on 19 March.
He stated someone from Australian Border Force called the duty harbour master to discuss "turning the ship around and sending it back to sea".
But a short time later the same ABF person called the master and said it could proceed to Circular Quay.
The special commission will continue to hear evidence on Wednesday and Friday and is expected to deliver its final report by mid-August.
A separate Senate inquiry into the Ruby Princess began on Tuesday in Canberra while a NSW Police criminal probe is also underway.
The Ruby Princess on Tuesday was off the east coast of the southern Philippine island of Mindanao en-route to Manila.
A Princess Cruises spokesman said it's expected to arrive in Manilla on Thursday and "a determination will then be made for the repatriation of Filipino crew in consultation with authorities in the Philippines".
The ship departed Port Kembla in Wollongong almost a fortnight ago.
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