Alice Springs- Jindee comment FWIW
About 15 years ago, as a tourist I passed thru Alice Springs- flew in- bussed out south via the ' gun barrel " hiway.
Was traveling with a random group- e.g. non affiliated.
And being generally aware of the OTH radar facility there - and later discussing it with some more knowledgeable people on the subject…
Its pretty sure the detection range publicly listed is much less than actual
As in being able to track military aircraft flying around during desert storm . .
My point is even if the Aussies went back to records and found some indication by matching times, possible tracks, etc it would probably be a while before they released it.
And I'm still quite sure the U S Navy is working on more than a ' hunch '-
But it will take spotting of a debris field and backtracking wind and waves to find if possible a ping . . . .
Even so it is a very big and DEEP ocean on the south leg of the arc