There is no doubt the Flight Crew of QF32 wasted a lot of time phaffing about with electronic warnings/checklists. You only have to look at the Swiss Air MD-11 off Newfoundland for proof positive of what can go wrong with major a/c issues.
QF32 was lucky - very bloody lucky. Who knows what could have gone wrong with all that shrapnel having hit the a/c. To waste 2 hrs mucking about with the unknown is bordering on the criminal. Im sure the crew were professional and followed all the published procedures but what a risk to the passengers.
There could have easily been a fire in the wing or a/c body, loss of critical hydraulic pressure, damage to wing spar which could have led to structural failure or a host of other nasties. Apparently the pax could see the skin peeling of the wing ala Aloha Flt 243. Things don't get better when that type of damage has occurrred - they only get worse ove time.
Aloha Airlines Flight 243 - Aircraft Accident - Maui Hawaii
While the crew were happily paging through the error messages the a/c could easily have disintegrated.
Big risk to take in my opinion - given they were only 6 minutes from SIN.
Very bloody lucky.