UPDATED

Tens of thousands of New Zealanders once again battled for a spot in MIQ.

After the virtual lobby closed about 26000 people were in the queue for vouchers, with around 3800 spots up for grabs across October, November and December.

Christchurch resident Tekla Kridle who is stuck in Australia, was under 3000 in the line and watched the numbers tick down.

But flights were disappearing before her eyes and when she finally reached the front of the queue, she was unable to make any of the dates work with flights from her location so had to relinquish the spot.

LISTEN ABOVE