Inside the bunker room at Swansea's Guildhall, council services that would normally take many months to alter are being redesigned in hours.
Schools to turn into childcare settings for key workers? Done.
Libraries and other council buildings to become food and support networks? Done.
Then there are the decisions which in normal times would be unthinkable, like scrapping the Wales Airshow and closing council-run parks - a move which was reversed following Boris Johnson's national address on March 23.
The list goes on - the urgent demand for protective equipment for social care staff who work with the vulnerable, how to support those most at risk of getting coronavirus, who are being advised to stay at home for 12 weeks, and grim discussions about mortuary places.
"It's like being on a war footing," said council leader Rob Stewart.
"But the last time the Guildhall operated like that, the restrictions were nothing like now. It has been completely unprecedented."
Cllr Stewart's message to the public was unequivocal.
"There are still some people who are not following the social isolation and distancing advice," he said.
"You must. This is a request to save lives."
The Guildhall's Kent Room is the nerve centre of this new-look operation.
A small command structure includes Cllr Stewart, chief executive Phil Roberts, the council's representative on a wider resilience forum, and other key individuals.
Cllr Stewart also consults with fellow cabinet members and has briefings with heads of department and senior teams.
Everyone who can is working remotely - and the council's normal decision-making process has been suspended.
"We're having to work with technology in a way we've never done before to make sure we make decisions safely and quickly," said Cllr Stewart, speaking last week.
The key area of focus so far has been the redesigning of education and social care.
"A huge amount of work has been done by head teachers and staff to create the new childcare centres," said the Swansea Labour leader.
"And children are continuing to work via remote packages of learning. Education has not stopped."
Some protective equipment for priority care workers has arrived.
Further deliveries, said Cllr Stewart, are expected in the coming days.
The issue, he said, has been "hugely challenging".
The council commissions several domiciliary care providers in Swansea, which help about 1,200 mostly elderly people with things like dressing and washing.
The authority also has an in-house domiciliary care service looking after people with more complex needs and those who need short-term re-ablement care before they can return home.
Cllr Stewart said every council in the UK was after the same equipment and products, but that Swansea had received an equipment donation from China.
The council has launched a new network to support the county's food banks, and 160 food packages were dispatched on its first day.
Thousands of Swansea residents with certain long-term health conditions will need to self-isolate for 12 weeks, although the exact number is not clear yet.
These people are receiving letters from the Welsh Government, along with the medical, practical and emotional support available.
"Some of these people will need additional support from the council," said Cllr Stewart. "This is one of our big concerns."
He said the authority hadn't received "a single penny" from the UK Government yet. Extra funding is expected by April 1.
With income-raising venues closed and no council tax income in February and March, Cllr Stewart said cash flow for the council was a "real challenge".
But he praised staff and the wider community.
The cabinet, he said, was strong and chief executive Mr Roberts was excelling.
"I've been bowled over by the response of staff, who want to help in any way they can," said Cllr Stewart.
"The offers of support from business and local people have been tremendous - that speaks for the community spirit in Swansea. It's absolutely brilliant."
He revealed there had been a debate about whether to close parks.
"We had conflicting advice from different sources," said the Labour leader.
"But the way in which some people congregated over the weekend gave us cause for concern."
Now open again for one walk or run per person per day, people must stay two metres apart unless they go with a family member.
Asked what his hardest moment had been, Cllr Stewart said: "I don't get down when the pressure comes on. I try to react in a positive way.
"But there is the sheer exhaustion of doing 20-hour days."
Leader of the opposition, Councillor Chris Holley, said all government and council leaders were having to make "radical and completely out of the box decisions".
The Lib Dem councillor said: "Politics to some extent goes out of the window. We are led by science."
He appreciated people were under considerable "physical and psychological restraint", but urged everyone to adhere to government advice.
He said: "The granddaughter of a lady I know, who's four, asked her mother if we're going to die because of the virus. That really struck a chord with me."
