The Hanging Rock COVID-19 testing clinic was a smooth system on Wednesday, July 22.
On Monday and Tuesday, patients had complained of up to five-hour delays.
Many patients were arriving at the clinic near the function centre at 7am, as staff were setting up for an 8.30am start.
On Wednesday however, the clinic had moved to near the Marine Rescue building, where Eurobodalla Health Service general manager Lisa Kennedy said traffic flowed better.
Fewer people were arriving all at once.
"That means people are getting seen much more quickly than they had the last few days," Ms Kennedy said.
Ms Kennedy said she understood the frustration since the Batemans Bay cluster was declared on Friday night.
She said the majority of patients had been understanding at the clinic, although a few were angry.
"It's the fear and concern of having to wait, and not wanting to," Ms Kennedy said.
"Monday we had some traffic issues; cars were banked up on George Bass Drive, which wasn't safe.
"At that point, people said you need to try and come back later; we've got no more parking.
"That was creating some issues (and the thought of) 'we've been turned away'.
"It's an invisible disease so it's not something you can easily see and know is coming. It's quite frightening."
Ms Kennedy said about 400 vehicles arrived for testing on Tuesday, with mostly two to five patients in each car.
Plus there were walk-in and ride-in patients.
Ms Kennedy took water and snacks to some cars, until she ran out.
She said local businesses had helped supply food and water: "We're distributing where we can."
Ms Kennedy advised patients arriving at the clinic to bring water and snacks in case there was a long wait.
Ms Kennedy apologised for the delays.
"I would like to apologise to the people who had delays and long waits, but thank them hugely for their patience, and ask everyone is kind to each other," she said.
"It's been a really difficult year."
In response to whether notifications via text message would provide a better system to ease the waiting time, Ms Kennedy said it would be challenging.
"The text notification would prove challenging - if they didn't stay here - in terms of getting the flow right depending on how long it would take them to get here," she said.
Ms Kennedy said when a patient arrived at the clinic, staff would collect their details, then communicate them to staff at a computer on site.
A pathology request form and specimen label was created, which was put in a pack.
"We call the cars through, the patient is swabbed and the staff will ask them questions and give them information about what they need to do," she said.
She commended the health care staff, many of whom had worked consecutive days on the front line.
"The staff are the most amazing crew. We're very lucky," she said.
"We have a team here from the local health service, they're backed up by state medical assistance; four people who have come down especially to help out.
"Then we've got Laverty Pathology on the other side. They've been here since Monday. Their swabs go back to Canberra for processing every day, so it's a slightly different process.
"They're all smiling, all supporting each other. They've got a really good system organised."
Ms Kennedy reminded people who visited the Soldiers Club on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, July 13 and 15-17, and their close contacts, to self-isolate for 14 days irrespective of whether their test returned negative.
"Anybody who was at the Soldiers Club on the dates specified should be isolating for 14 days irrespective of their result," she said.
"If they're people who've come for a test because they're a bit worried, they don't need to.
"The incubation period is 1-14 days, so that's why we're encouraging self isolation as the first step, then getting a swab at some point in that time."
A marquee has been set up to support staff. The Hanging Rock clinic is expected to remain at the site until at least Sunday.
A Broulee clinic was also set up at Captain Oldrey Park from midday to 5pm on Wednesday, and was expected to stay there until Friday.
For more information, go to: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/diseases/Pages/coronavirus.aspx
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