Bianca Andreescu coach Sylvain Bruneau says he was positive case on flight from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne

Of the four confirmed cases, three travelled into Australia from Los Angeles – an air crew member, a tennis coach and the broadcaster. Sylvain Bruneau, coach of Bianca Andreescu, said he tested positive after flying in to Melbourne from Abu Dhabi.

All four had tested negative before flying to Australia.

The conditions mean they are unable to leave their rooms, in contrast to other players and their support staff who will be allowed to train at Melbourne Park, the National Tennis Centre and Albert Reserve courts for up to five hours each day.

Tennis stars including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka are in Adelaide, where players reportedly have access to a gymnasium at their hotel and can take their whole staff to the practice courts.

The frustration led some players to complain on social media that the rules were not fully explained before they boarded for Australia.

Russian world No.28 Yulia Putintseva wrote on Twitter: “What I don’t understand is that, why no one ever told us, if one person on board is positive the whole plane need to be isolated. I would think twice before coming here”.

Romanian world No.71 Sorana Cirstea replied to Putintseva, saying “if they told us this rule before I would not play Australia. I would have stayed home. They told us we would … be a close contact only if my team or cohort [those sitting close by on a flight] tests positive”.

But other players appeared to take it in their stride. Russian-born New Zealand doubles player Artem Sitak said the organisers informed players of the risks.

“I think we need to put some things into perspective where a lot of Australians right now cannot get back home because of restrictions and we, as foreigners of over a thousand people in Australia, we are going to be competing in a grand slam earning a lot of money,” he said on Instagram.

COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria commissioner Emma Cassar pledged the hotel quarantine program would not be “watered down” despite players’ complaints.

She said her department made it “really clear” to Tennis Australia that in the event of a positive coronavirus case on a flight, all passengers and crew would be deemed a close contact and need to isolate.

She also revealed that some players and staff had been already formally cautioned after “low level but dangerous acts” that breached quarantine rules. Breaches can attract fines of $20,000.

“Some of these challenging behaviours include a player who opened his door to try and have a conversation with his training mate down the hallway,” Ms Cassar said.

“You can pick up the phone and use that instead of putting yourself and other people at risk.

“The other [breach] was another gentleman who shouted some UberEats to some other people on the floor and was praising himself for his great efforts and opened his door to do so.

“It is very low level but they are dangerous acts that we cannot tolerate … they have been formally warned and Victoria Police will continue to follow up those who haven’t been spoken to yet.”

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley told the Today show on Sunday that Tennis Australia would work with players in hard lockdown to potentially make some adjustments to the lead-in schedule, with both men’s and women’s tournaments set to take place before the grand slam.

“We are planning on February 8, we do have that buffer time in there [between players finishing 14 days’ quarantine and the Australian Open starting] and … ” Mr Tiley said.

“Obviously our first objective is that everyone remains as healthy as possible. We are reviewing the schedule leading in to see what we can do to assist these players, but obviously it’s not something that we wanted to have happen. We were hoping every flight would be OK and that’s why we took those mitigating measures.

“If we have to make some adjustments to the schedule, we’ll see if we have to do that. We’re going to do whatever we can to make it an environment that is fair for those players…

“But we are in this situation, we have to deal with it, the Australian Open is going ahead. And we will continue to do the best we can possibly do to ensure those players have what is not a great situation, one that is somewhat acceptable.”

In October, when Tennis Australia was seeking state government approval for a special training bubble, Mr Tiley told AAP: “If a player has to quarantine and be stuck in a hotel for two weeks just before their season, that won’t happen.

“You can’t ask players to quarantine for two weeks and then step out and be ready to play a grand slam.”

Tennis Australia chair Jayne Hrdlicka has issued a staunch defence of the Australian Open’s quarantine arrangements, saying the decision to allow hundreds of players and their support staff to arrive via plane is not at odds with the country’s strict border controls.

Ms Hrdlicka told The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald the Open was following a “well-defined process” and the system was being executed with “great discipline”, despite recent reports of players breaching quarantine rules.

“We’ve got one of the world’s most sophisticated quarantine programs, it’s been designed in collaboration with the world’s best authorities to manage the quarantine processes and protect the community,” she said.

“I don’t think it’s in conflict at all. It’s actually a great example of what we need to be doing as a country, which is working very logically and rationally to ensure that we can get the economy restarted, and get these great events happening, where that’s possible to be done safely.”

Victorian Energy and Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio defended her government’s handling of the grand slam. She defended her decision to allow 1240 players, officials and support staff into the country.

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The Australian Open was one of the “foremost” sporting events in the global calendar and the government was “vigilant” in mitigating risks associated with the tournament, she said.

She continued to defend the decision to allow players and staff into Australia while thousands of Victorians remain locked out of the state due to border closures.

“We know what it’s like to be locked down in Victoria, other states are understanding that every single day. This is about putting the health of our community first, working by the very clear health advice to keep us COVID safe and to keep Victoria open.

“We know that it is frustrating for many Victorians, no one can say anything different, I certainly don’t say anything different, but we’ve got to do this with the absolute diligence that has got us to this position.”

Player training was delayed on Sunday because health authorities were waiting for the test results of some people to arrive. Those results are now expected on Monday.

Opposition frontbench MP David Southwick said Victorians had a “right to certainly feel quite angry, frustrated and scared” over the government’s decision to allow the Australian Open to go ahead, while banning Victorians from returning home.

“We see that with the tennis players, the red carpet being rolled out for them, yet we see Victorians stranded interstate not able to get back … It’s not good enough to treat Victorians like second-class citizens.”

With Dominic Powell