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A record-breaking Qantas flight has touched down in Australia after 17 hours and 25 minutes in the air.

The repatriation flight flew 15,020 kilometres from Buenos Aires to Darwin, bringing some of the Aussies stranded in South America home.

It's the first-ever non-stop Qantas flight between the destinations.

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There were 107 passengers on board, who will now do 14 days quarantine at the Howard Springs camp.

The Boeing 787-9 had four pilots, 17 crew, a maximum fuel load of around 126,000 litres.

Tickets cost more than $2000 and quarantine starts at around $3000.

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However, it is understood many Aussies stranded in other parts of South America were unable to get to Argentina to catch the flight due to border and visa rules.

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There are more than 45,000 Aussies who have registered with DFAT as wanting to return from around the world but who are limited by flight caps due to coronavirus.

The repatriation flight took off at 12.44pm local time in Buenos Aires, tracking south of Argentina, skirting the edge of Antarctica before crossing the Australian coast at 5.28pm (AEDT) and landing in Darwin at 6.39pm local time last night.

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Qantas said a team of flight analysts spent the past month conducting route planning based on weather and wind conditions across the Pacific Ocean and Antarctica.

The plane saw temperatures as low as -75C while flying over Antarctica.

Captain Alex Passerini said the views were "spectacular."

"Qantas has always stepped up to a challenge, especially when it comes to long-haul travel, and this flight is an excellent example of the capabilities and attention to detail of our flight planning team," he said.

Qantas has not flown its regular international passenger flights since March 2020 but plans to restart for some next month if the travel ban is lifted for states that hit 80 per cent vaccination rates.

The flight was 522 kilometres further than the airline's regular scheduled non-stop Perth to London flights.

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But it's not the longest it has ever done.

In 1989, a Qantas 747 delivery flight flew non-stop from London to Sydney in 20 hours and nine minutes.

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Qantas also operated two research flights on a Boeing 787 from New York and London direct to Sydney in 2019, which took 19 hours each.

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Queensland has recorded five cases of COVID-19 on a bulk carrier off the coast of Cape York.

A sixth case has been recorded in a traveller in hotel quarantine who had returned from Scotland.

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath this morning confirmed in "positive news" there had been no new locally acquired cases.

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Almost 15,000 tests were conducted across the state yesterday.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the five positive cases on the ship would be assessed to determine if they required treatment in hospital or could be managed offshore.

Speaking in Mackay, Ms D'Ath warned areas with low vaccination rates would be vulnerable to the virus when it arrived in the state.

"We cannot have towns like Mackay become ground zero for the virus," she said.

"It will be your local hospitals that have to deal with all those positive cases, it will be your schools that will have the outbreak across the students, it will be your industries, the resource and the tourism sector that will be impacted by their staff being sick and having to go into hospital or quarantining."

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Ms D'Ath also named Rockhampton, Mount Isa, Ipswich, Logan, Beaudesert and remote Indigenous communities as being among those with lower vaccination rates.

Nineteen high schools will be converted into vaccination hubs to help boost numbers in some of those areas.

More than 49 per cent of Queenslanders are fully vaccinated, and more than 62 per cent have had one dose.

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Ms D'Ath said she expected this weekend to be a "super vax weekend" as those who turned out to get their first dose three weeks ago came forward to get their second.

"We have now delivered over five million doses," Ms D'Ath said.

"Of course we want those numbers to keep going up."

Further detail on home quarantine

Yesterday it was revealed Queensland would begin trialling home quarantine for returning Queenslanders.

A thousand Queenslanders who have already applied to return home will be invited to home quarantine from next week.

"It doesn't apply to someone who today jumps on a plane and goes south," Ms D'Ath said.

"These are for people already stuck in NSW, ACT and Victoria."

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Queensland home quarantine trial eligibility criteria

• More than two weeks since second dose of COVID-19 vaccine
• Reside within two hours of Brisbane Airport
• Entire household must quarantine
• Negative test within 72 hours prior to travel
• Comply with all testing and check-in requirements

9News understands participants will need to quarantine in a house, rather than an apartment, and must arrive in Queensland by air.

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Ms D'Ath said fines or mandatory hotel quarantine will apply for those who breach the rules.

She said the trial would be re-evaluated after two weeks and urged participants to make it successful by following the rules.

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