The night of Tuesday August 9 was meant to be the chance for every Australian to be counted, with the federal government confident moving the census online would proceed without a hitch.
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But newly released Australian Bureau of Statistics documents show a very different story.
A cascading series of emails released under freedom of information suggest seven years of planning didn't cover how staff should communicate or respond to a crash, with the subsequent meltdown culminating in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's office intervening around 10pm.
Days of preparation are laid out, with early emails showing staff preparing social media posts, proofing screenshots and confirming plans for the hours ahead.
Co-operation around one early problem about content was quickly sorted.
"Thanks [redacted]," an email reads. "I can't tell you how big an issue this could have been so really appreciate prompt action."
The first signs of concern emerged just before noon, as users had trouble saving and submitting their forms.
Staff shared screenshots of "SERVICE TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE" messages, but said the problems hadn't been widely shared on social media yet.
Later, staff were given approved messages to use in the event they were "getting/seeing public enquiries about problems accessing or using the online form".
"Please monitor . . . for any activity that might alert us to any unusual activity on online form, including anyone claiming to launch an attack or successfully attacking," one email states.
Co-operation continued throughout the day.
"We're in sync," one staff member told another, followed by a smiley face emoji.
Emails with the subject line "website crashing" emerged just after 6pm, as comments about error messages began to be received.
Standard talking points were shared for staff to respond, ranging from "the online forms and websites are operating smoothly as expected" to "there's still time" and "you can request a paper form".
Before 8pm, staff were told not to post to social media until there was an update from technicians.
Despite the census being taken offline sometime around 8.30pm, ABS Twitter accounts continued to direct the public towards the website because of apparent outsourcing of social media control.
Those errors continued for nearly an hour as ABS staff tried to have a paid advertisement removed at the direction of the federal government, with all social media activity turned off by about 10pm.
Complaints from around the country were being heard.
"Can't express the extreme urgency around this now," one email warned at 10pm. "Prime Minister's Office is now involved. Online form still unavailable, investigations ongoing, no timeframe for resolution."
Another staff member said "everyone is aware of the severity".
After 11pm, Small Business Minister Michael McCormack approved a statement and plans for the next morning were under way.
"I can confirm post speaking with [redacted named] just now we can: turn all TV off by 10:00am tomoz morn; turn all radio off by 10:00am tomoz morn, turn all digital OOH off by 9:00am tomoz morn; turn all cinema off by end of tomoz," one staff member said, warning there would be cost implications for the plans.
"We are on standby here in office and will await to be instructed what else you require use to do tonight post speaking with Prime Minister's office now," came a response.
Census FOI by FairfaxPolitics on Scribd
All census activity was stopped by about 11.20pm. The public was told they would not be fined for late completion of the form.
The ABS charged $1020 to release the partially redacted documents, obtained through the Uncover the #CensusFail crowd funding effort led by frustrated census user William Summers.
A Senate inquiry is under way to consider the bungled census, with a report due to be released on November 24.
