The first commercial flight from the Middle East to Australia since the outbreak of war between the US, Israel and Iran has taken off, in a promising sign for a Labor government that has pinned its hopes for the repatriation of stranded Australians on commercial airlines amid an unfolding “consular crisis”.

Emirates flight EK414 took off from Dubai shortly after 9.20am (AEDT) and is set to land in Sydney after 10.30pm on Wednesday, as the Australian Defence Force confirmed they were preparing to help evacuate Australians stranded in the Middle East, amid calls from the opposition for “every option” to be considered.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong.© Dominic Lorrimer

Speaking to ABC Radio National on Wednesday morning, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said: “This is a consular crisis that dwarfs any that Australia has had to deal with in terms of numbers of people.

“The foreign minister of the Arab Emirates explained to me that around 24,000 Australians are in his country. We discussed when I spoke with him … that the best way to get people out is to get commercial flights started.

“I asked if they could look at commercial flights restarting. Obviously, it’s very unpredictable … we would say to people on the ground, you need to ensure you stay in contact with your airline in relation to that flight if you are on it. Flights have been cancelled and changed at short notice.”

Since the closure of airspace over the Middle East following the outbreak of war between the US, Israel and Iran on Saturday evening (AEDT), government ministers have consistently argued that commercial flights are the most practical way for the 115,000 stranded Australians to return home.

The United Kindgom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have all either announced or begun operating charter flights to return stranded citizens. The United States has urged Americans to use available commercial transport to exit the region.

Speaking to journalists at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, opposition foreign affairs spokesman Ted O’Brien said the government had betrayed Australian citizens by offering different travel guidance to diplomats and tourists in the lead-up to the joint US-Israeli strikes.

“Australia should be looking at every option to ensure that the 115,000 Australians in the Middle East are kept safe, but most importantly, they can be evacuated. This is a very dangerous region. There has been double standards by the government in how they treat the Australian people on this that is unacceptable,” O’Brien said.

“On the 25th of February, the government decided that the risk was so high that diplomats [and] their dependents should be evacuated from the region, but it took three more days and over 100 ballistic missiles before the government treated the everyday Australian public in the same way. It took three days and over 100 ballistic missiles before the government changed their travel advice to do not travel. That is not acceptable.”

Among the suggested options for repatriation has been the use of defence force transport. In a statement on Wednesday, the ADF said: “Defence remains ready to support DFAT-led whole-of-government contingency planning.”

A defence force task force is exploring options for mass evacuations. Defence Minister Richard Marles on Tuesday said Australia was exploring unspecified “contingencies”, noting that airspace access above cities such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai remained limited.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last night spoke to Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and thanked him for the hospitality shown to Australians stranded in the Emirates, and discussed the imperative of restarting commercial flights. About 11,000 Australians transit through the major international hub at any time.

Among the stranded travellers were Australians Chloe and Cinty – both of whom asked that their second names not be published – who departed Sydney for Madrid on Friday night, less than 24 hours before the Trump administration’s Operation Epic Fury began. They were meant to stay in Abu Dhabi for nine hours, which has now stretched beyond three nights as their flights remain cancelled.

“We were sitting at the gate and all of a sudden, Spanish passengers started getting all of these intense phone notifications and alarms from their phones, safety alerts, we had no idea what was going on, and people started to panic at that point,” Chloe said.

“[Some were] told to stay from windows, avoid glass as a safety precaution … we stayed put at the gate and were alert from that point, still thinking in a few hours we might get out.”

Cinty described “mayhem” in the arrivals terminal, as bags were dumped across the floor while travellers scrambled to rearrange plans thrown into jeopardy.

Camille Thioulouse is another Australian stranded in Abu Dhabi. She has taken shelter in a nearby hotel as she and her family await details of a flight to their home base in Saudi Arabia.

“The last 48 hours have been intense … it’s hard to decipher the information coming through,” Thioulouse wrote on social media.

“We are desperate to get home to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but we also realise how lucky we are that we are safe and well looked after.”