Hundreds of workers are facing redundancy this Christmas after national freight company Redstar Transport went out of business and into liquidation.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) were on Thursday appointed to wind up the company as it was finishing operations and making employees redundant.
PwC's Stephen Longley said he expected the process to be completed by the end of the week.
"This is a terrible situation at any time, let alone on the eve of the holidays," Mr Longley said.
"We are doing everything we can in the circumstances to manage the fallout."
PwC said Redstar may not have enough funds to pay for their services but Toll and ANZ have pledged to cover the costs.
Employees will have their entitlements paid for by the Federal Government's worker protection scheme, according to the liquidators.
The company's descent into liquidation came after hours of speculation about its future.
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) said about 100 workers had informed them they had been sent home in the past day, and depots have been shut down around the country.
The union said truck drivers were told to leave their vehicles at their final destinations and return home, with reports that some drivers had been left stranded at Redstar's depots and were forced to make their own way home.
Redstar employs about 400 workers and has offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Perth and Dubbo.
It has declined to comment.
The ABC also visited its depot at Dubbo in the Central West of New South Wales, but no one responded to calls at the gate.
Dubbo-based Redstar worker John Redford said it has been "a sad day", particularly for the Dubbo depot and its 20 employees.
He said some of the drivers were drought-affected farmers from surrounding towns, such as Orange and Gilgandra, who were working at the Dubbo depot to make ends meet.
"We're just going to be monitoring the situation and make sure that things happen and we'll be bringing pressure to bear if things don't go in the right direction," Mr Redford said.
He said the company was also contracted to deliver post around the country, meaning the fallout from the company's failure extends beyond the workers and their families.
"There's probably Christmas cards (in certain trucks), people just aren't going to receive this side of Christmas because of these actions," Mr Redford said.
TWU spokesman Nick McIntosh said the union has also attempted to contact the company about its status.
"It's frustrating for everyone, it's most frustrating for the drivers not to be told," Mr McIntosh said.
"There was a lot of cases of people simply being told to return vehicles loaded and go home."
He said the union is working to support affected workers, especially in the days before Christmas.
"We're not talking about a two-bit operation here, we are talking about a company that employs literally hundreds of transport workers around the country," Mr McIntosh said.
"It is a shock and I'm sure the drivers today are shocked. As soon as we get better information, we will be communicating that with our members."
Redstar was audited last year after two boys, aged nine and 12, died when a car and one of the company's trucks collided in the state's central-west.
