With Haas and Williams making clear they were happy to go with the majority (so effectively abstaining), four teams were in favour of running (Mercedes, Red Bull, AlphaTauri and Racing Point), with four clear they would not: Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Renault and McLaren (who were taken as a no because they had already withdrawn).
With an effective tie, it was decided that Brawn would have the casting vote in deciding which way things would go – and he was in favour of going through Friday at least before assessing the situation further.
That motion was officially carried and teams left the meeting believing the event was going ahead.
But then Wolff received a phone call from his boss Kallenius, who wanted to discuss the impact of the coronavirus situation and what Mercedes should do with its F1 team.
It is understood that while Kallenius left the final decision on matters down to Wolff, so did not order him to decide one way or the other, he did voice concerns about the deteriorating situation in Europe.
Taking stock of the conversation, Wolff phoned Brawn and said that he was now voting against carrying on with the Melbourne weekend. That meant there were five teams ready to withdraw from the race – which meant only 10 cars would be available.
That was past the trigger point that the FIA needed, so was enough for F1 chiefs to inform the Australian Grand Prix Corporation on Friday morning that movement was underway to cancel the race.