Exercises were running over two days and had involved students from multiple year levels as well as responders from across the emergency and health care system.

Second year student and incident media officer Madi Goswell said her fellow fourth years were utilising all the skills they had learnt during their time at La Trobe.

Wednesday morning’s drill depicted a mass casualty incident, with early reports suggesting death and injury toll of over 100 people.

That number steadily rose and incident controller and fourth year student Elle Bullock was receiving updates every few minutes.

“It’s been pretty intense. It’s more difficult that I thought it was going to be,” she said.

Despite the stress she was enjoying the challenging role.

Actors had been enlisted to sit in cars and local SES crews were helping rescue them. They included second year student Sarah Martin, who was covered in fake blood. Her character was a car driver who had gone into cardiac arrest after a traumatic chest injury.

“I basically hit the steering wheel on impact and that caused my heart to stop. It was up to the paramedic students to decide whether to try to resuscitate me or not,” she said.

Student Gabrielle Fitzpatrick was one of the first on the scene and had spent the morning assessing and caring for patients.

With so many casualties, getting patients to hospital was proving to be a challenge.

“We are managing people as best we can. It’s been a bit stressful,” Ms Fitzpatrick said.

She was caring for a 36 week pregnant patient in a critical condition near the crash site.

Ms Fitzpatrick said it was good La Trobe prepared its students for the challenges of major incidents.

“These (sorts of days) prepare you a fair bit. They are still really overwhelming but they definitely help,” she said. 

Actor Sarah Martin, who was also studying paramedicine, said students began clinical practice in their second year.

“It’s brilliant. It’s really great for students in every year to be involved and get some experience,” she said.

For SES deputy controller Natalie Stanway the chance to work with students was an opportunity for her responders to better understand the needs of paramedics when responding to emergencies.

She said the SES loved working with student paramedics, with five studying or recently graduated students currently part of her crew.

“We love having them in the unit because of that extra skill set they bring,” she said.