Australia Post tracking numbers — what they are, and where they actually work.
24hTrack is a free lookup site, not Australia Post. We don't sell or deliver parcels — we show you the scans the carrier has published.
Most Australia Post numbers pasted here come back with nothing yet. Measured over the last 30 days, only about one in five reached a status on this page. If yours is blank, that does not mean the parcel is lost — it means no scan has reached us yet. Australia Post's own tracking at auspost.com.au and the AusPost app are the deepest source for an AusPost number; when a number does come through here, you get the whole scan list.
Australia Post is the Australian government-owned postal operator and, in its own words, runs “Australia's largest delivery network”, delivering “to every postcode in Australia, from major cities to remote outposts, covering over 12 million delivery points.” Alongside letters and parcels it runs identity and document services, money transfers and bill payments, and travel services out of its post offices.
The parcel brands you are most likely to be holding a number for are Parcel Post (the standard domestic service), Express Post (the next-business-day network), Registered Post, and StarTrack, the courier and freight arm used by businesses. Parcels can also be routed to a Parcel Locker or a collection point instead of your door, and AusPost scans say so when that happens — a line reading “Delivered – Left in a safe place” means the driver completed the delivery without a signature rather than that somebody signed for it.
Australia Post does not use one single number format. Domestic articles, business consignments and the thirteen-character international numbers that end in AU all look different from each other, which is why a number that “does not look like a tracking number” can still be a valid one. Australia Post itself notes you can “easily track your deliveries without an account or logging in — all you need is a tracking number.”
Ships for: Australian online retailers shipping Parcel Post and Express Post, Businesses shipping courier and freight through StarTrack, Overseas senders posting to Australian addresses
Typical delivery time: When an Australia Post number does report here, the parcel reaches a delivered scan a median of about 6 days after it is first tracked, with 80% inside about 13 days — that long tail is mostly inbound international items, where the clock includes the flight and customs. Numbers that do report tend to carry about a dozen scans, so the detail is there once the first one lands.
Official carrier website: auspost.com.au
Because no scan has reached us for it yet. That is the common case for AusPost numbers here — about four in five come back empty when measured over a month. It is not evidence the parcel is lost. Check the same number at auspost.com.au or in the AusPost app, which is the deepest source for an AusPost number, and if that is blank too the item has most likely not been scanned into the network yet.
Probably yes. Australia Post does not use a single format: a domestic article number, a business consignment number and an international number ending in AU all look quite different. If the sender gave it to you as the tracking number, it is worth checking as-is — and if it was copied out of an order page, make sure you have the carrier's number rather than the shop's own order reference.
It means the driver completed the delivery without taking a signature and left the parcel at the address — the scan is a delivery, not an attempt. If you cannot find it, check the usual spots first, then the delivery photo or note in the AusPost app, and raise it with Australia Post rather than with the sender, since only the carrier holds the driver's record.
For numbers that report here, the median is about 6 days from the first time the number is tracked to the delivery scan, and 80% are delivered inside about 13 days. Domestic Express Post is far quicker than that; the long tail is inbound international mail, where customs and the flight are part of the wait.
StarTrack is Australia Post's courier and freight arm, used mainly by business senders. It is part of the same organisation, but consignments move on a different network from ordinary Parcel Post, which is why a StarTrack number and a Parcel Post number do not look alike and do not report the same way.
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