A full plane of 165 Australians departed from Delhi in the early hours of Sunday, with no passengers blocked from boarding the flight because of a positive COVID-19 test.

The fact that no passengers were excluded from the flight stands in stark contrast to a week ago, when just 80 of the planned-for 150 seats were filled on the first flight that arrived in Darwin. It does not preclude the possibility that a passenger may test positive on arrival to quarantine in Australia.

And the number of government facilitated-flights back to Australia by June 4 will also increase by two, from six to eight, after South Australia and Western Australia each agreed to take a repatriation flight.

Those two states have joined Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland - who will accept one flight each - and the NT, which is taking three flights, in agreeing to receive a flight.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the flight would arrive in Darwin on Sunday and that “this support from the states will significantly increase the number of facilitated commercial flights”.

According to Flightradar24 data, QF112 departed Delhi at 8.52pm on Saturday local time (1.22am AEST) and was scheduled to arrive in Darwin at 9.04am on Sunday.

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A total of 42 passengers who had been due to take last week’s first flight tested positive for coronavirus while in a three-day mandatory pre-flight hotel stay in Delhi and were unable to fly, while 31 of their close contacts were also barred from the mercy flight.

A number of passengers due to take that first flight questioned the accuracy of their positive result and said they had received a negative results from other labs, while the ABC last week reported the lab which did the tests for Qantas had been suspended by India’s national accreditation agency last month.