Darwin has had many airlines try it over the years.
The biggest as said when Jetstar tried the hub, what was it Singapore, Ho Chi Minh and Manila?
Way back when, Qantas dropped in from Tokyo when Japanese inbound tourism was huge.
Royal Brunei for years, Garuda, Its MyParty, Air Asia, Philippine, no doubt a few more.
Why doesn’t it work? The Darwin population is just not big enough to support it when transit traffic not there?
Apart from that it is the gateway to Asia, good for freight with the Choo Choo train up the middle.