Western Australia's molecular diagnostic capability is concentrated in the Perth metropolitan area and relies on a complex statewide referral network. Interruption of the intra-state referral and between-state supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic showed how vulnerable this network is to disruption. The fly-in, fly-out molecular diagnostic capability we developed and deployed by August 2020 arose from over two decades of deployable laboratory development. Beginning with our response to melioidosis and other infections of tropical Australia, we set out to project a transportable PCR assay in response to emerging infections within the state and beyond. Initial melioidosis investigations in Brazil and South Africa identified practical logistic challenges which we overcame through further overseas deployments in northern Malaysia and Sri Lanka in 2009. Home deployments in support of Australian Defence Force manoeuvres in Queensland and New South Wales resulted in consolidated laboratory payload, reducing from 150-50kg despite a wider range of molecular targets to include endemic arboviruses. In 2016 a lightweight thermocycler unit was sufficiently compact for ship-borne operation (1). Taken as an iterative series of molecular diagnostic development activity, this work prepared us for the unanticipated challenges of SARS-CoV-2 in regional WA, before proprietary PCR platforms were available to PathWest and WA Health (2). Our adoption of open systems gave us optimal flexibility, which proved important when molecular diagnostic reagents were hard to come by. The in-house validation of the assay series we chose was completed before the state reference method due to timely international collaboration, and enabled by generous philanthropic funding from a resource industry source.