With more than 100 dead, injured or missing, thousands of distraught relatives waited for news of their loved ones from the island that for Australians is equivalent to Benidorm or Ibiza. As the death toll rose rapidly, it appeared likely to prove Australia’s worst loss of life outside wartime.

Bali is where young Australians go to party. It is the country’s most popular overseas tourist destination, with more than 300,000 visiting last year. Between 10,000 and 20,000 were believed to be on the island at the weekend, including Australian sports teams celebrating the end of their season.

John Howard, Australia’s Prime Minister and a staunch supporter of America’s war against terrorism, said that the bombings were “wicked and cowardly”. He ordered a mass removal of thousands of Australians from Bali, sending in civilian and military aircraft to airlift the injured and able- bodied to safety.

In one of the biggest peacetime operations in Australian aviation history, a fleet of aircraft from the national airline, Qantas, was diverted to the Bali capital of Denpasar to pick up tourists who had been advised to leave the island.

Four Royal Australian Airforce Hercules transport aircraft flew in medical teams to treat those critically injured and to take them to hospitals in Darwin. The Department of Foreign Affairs said that Australians should not travel to Bali in the near future and advised those on the island to remain in their hotels for now.

The bombed club had been packed with young foreign tourists and offered a soft target for terrorists opposed to the active support of Britain and Australia for American military action against Iraq.

Mr Howard said that the attack a “clear act of terrorism” but he there was no clear evidence to suggest that Australia was being made a target because of its support of the Bush Administration. “Whether or not there is a particular anti-Australian component in this I can’t tell, but Kuta Beach, which is frequented by a lot of Australians, is also frequented by other westerners,” he said. “I can only say again that the war against terrorism must go on with unrelenting vigour and with an unconditional commitment.”

In emotional scenes repeated across the country, families prayed for telephone calls or messages from relatives in Bali that in many cases never came.

Seven members of the Kingsley Australian Rules Football Club from Perth, who had gone to Bali to celebrate their premiership win, were among those missing. Bruce Anderson, their secretary, said: “They only arrived there yesterday afternoon and within a couple of hours it is all ruined.”

At Forbes in New South Wales, which had three players from its rugby union team unaccounted for, Alex McKinnon, a club spokesman, said: “We’re just waiting in hope. We’re all devastated.”

In Adelaide the fate of two members of the Sturt Australian Rules Club was unknown. Steve Chapman, the club secretary, said that the rest of the team were “shell-shocked and if you look at the television pictures you can understand why”.

The first Australian to arrive home was Rick Elliott of Melbourne, who was in the nightclub when the bomb exploded. He was treated in the Royal Darwin Hospital for cuts to his head and leg. “There was a loud explosion and the ceiling collapsed on me,” he said. “I was shocked and lifted the ceiling away from me and wasn’t sure what was happening. Thirty seconds later the whole place was alight and there was a whole lot of people clambering over a brick wall at the rear of the club. I jumped up on the fence and climbed on to another roof and the heat of the place was just really, really intense.”

Daryl Williams, the Australian Attorney-General, announced that Canberra was reviewing security arrangements at its overseas embassies. He said that the Government’s security task force would meet soon to discuss what measures needed to be put in place.

About 30,000 people packed central Melbourne for an anti-war rally yesterday and observed a two-minute silence for the Bali victims.

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