Tens of thousands of people have attempted to take advantage of Monday morning's release of newly released spots in managed isolation which would allow them to be back in New Zealand for Christmas.
A total of 3000 rooms were made available at 9am - however, as many as ten times that number of people are online attempting to get the green light to come home.
Comedian Melanie Bracewell posted a screenshot on Twitter of where she sat in the queue. There were 22,991 people ahead of her, all in line for one of those 3000 rooms.
Journalist and filmmaker David Farrier also posted screenshots of his attempt to book an MIQ room, showing nearly 15,000 people ahead of him.
"Well that was fun," said Farrier sarcastically, after previously publishing articles on his struggle with the MIQ system.
Monday morning's release is the first time the Government has used its new "virtual lobby" system.
It's not a first-in, first-served model. Instead, once the room release starts, all of the people in the lobby will be automatically moved into a queue in a randomised order, removing the need to be the fastest.
Those who are placed at the front of the queue will get the first opportunity to make a booking for a spot in managed isolation.
