An Australian stuck in Wuhan has described the desperate scramble to reach an evacuation flight he never ended up making.

Coronavirus is believed to have slowed in its city of origin, Wuhan, but the whole Hubei province remains in lockdown.

Shortly after the virus began to spread, Qantas conducted an evacuation mission, sending two flights to bring home Aussies in Wuhan.

Tim McLean was one of those Aussies lucky enough to get a seat on the flight, but sadly never made it.

NSW South Coast man Tim lives on the outskirts of Wuhan, just 50km from the airport.

He and his Chinese partner secured a place on the flight, mere hours before the flight was to take off, but when it came down to it, it was “impossible” to get there.

“I wanted to get on that flight and I tried my hardest to get there.

“I couldn’t get any transport to get there because if they left the city they wouldn’t be able to get back in.

“Now it’s probably even harder to get out, they just simply won’t let you leave.

“It was sort of just too late for me and I had to suck it up.”

The federal health minister has confirmed there are no plans for further evacuations from Wuhan.

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview