A bus carrying dozens of passengers crashes at high speed into two cars, leaving multiple people dead.
Emergency crews are called to the scene, after many passengers suffer life-threatening injuries from the incident.
While the scene didn't actually take place on Canberra roads, paramedics in training put their skills to use on Thursday on a staged version of a mass-casualty incident in Hume, just in case it ever plays out for real.
The exercise was part of fourth-year studies for Australian Catholic University paramedic students.
The mock disaster saw 52 students take part in a real-time incident, working alongside other emergency services including SES and fire and rescue crews.
Volunteers covered in fake blood and prosthetic make up were there playing the victims, with paramedics in training helping to treat them.
General manager of education with the ACT Ambulance Service, Greg Brown, said the exercise was an opportunity for students to experience the realities of the job.
"The activity we've put together is a worst-case scenario, it would be an incredibly bad shift, the type of incident that's a once-in-a-career sort of thing," Mr Brown said.
"We try to do these as often as we can, because we don't know when the next one will be."
The paramedic students taking part were told nothing about what sort of incident they would be responding to, only that it would be an emergency situation.
It's dynamic, they never know what they're going to be facing.
Greg Brown
While students have taken part in mock exercises before as part of their studies, this one was the first to be conducted with other emergency services.
"It's dynamic, they never know what they're going to be facing," Mr Brown said.
"It's 100 per cent vital that [paramedics] are experts in their own skills and have an understanding of how other agencies work.
"All the emergency services speak their own language."
Fourth-year paramedic student Sarah Maloney said the training exercise put everything they had learnt into practice.
"There's always been some sort of mass-casualty exercise as part of fourth year, but it hasn't been of this calibre," Ms Maloney said.
"Canberra is a small place and it's really important that people in our community know that if something liker this is to happen, we're ready and equipped to respond."
Ms Maloney said she has always wanted to work in emergency services, after her grandfather was a police commander for 30 years.
