Ash cloud: Wheeling and dealing at Qantas terminal

"To Sydney, BMW 4WD seats 4 sale. Leaving now."

Max Riley's offer, scrawled in black marker on a cardboard sign, quickly generated interest among the crowd at Melbourne Airport on Monday.

The going rate for the three seats was $150 each.

Mr Riley, who had driven down from Sydney with his family last week said he was not out to make a buck.

But the money would help pay for a hotel so his wife could extend her stay in Melbourne with their child.

It was packed in the Qantas domestic terminal but still relatively calm, with just one brief outburst of anger, as the airline told hundreds of passengers to go home and contact the customer service centre to rebook flights scheduled between 6am and midday.

"What if you don't live here!" Patrick Korghian, of Sydney, yelled out after the megaphone announcement.

He will probably miss his driving test booked for Tuesday.

"That's $50 gone," Mr Korghian said.

The president of the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Sue Smith, was in Melbourne for the long weekend with her daughter to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's new production, Love Never Dies.

She was due to fly home on Sunday morning but was notified on Saturday night her flight had been cancelled.

Ms Smith was rebooked on a flight for Monday morning but it was also cancelled and she now has a seat on a Thursday flight.

She has made three calls to the Qantas customer service number, waiting more than two hours each time.

Ms Smith said passengers agreed that safety had to come first.

"None of us wants to fly if it's not safe, and nobody knows that better than Tasmanians," Ms Smith told AAP.

The atmosphere at the airport since she arrived at 7.15am had been calm, she said.

"It's really that Australianism of people just accepting the inevitable."

Across the terminal, sprawled on the floor, brothers Lachlan, 10, and Casey, eight, busied themselves colouring in and reading books with Phoebe, 12, and Gem, five.

Their parents, Clare and Jim Buckley, were in Melbourne with family and friends for the weekend to see the Tutankhamun exhibition.

With their 11.45am flight to Canberra cancelled, they had made arrangements for their animals to be fed at their Jindabyne farm.

Ms Buckley said they were considering hiring a car or minibus.

She said it would cost them a lot to book with another carrier.

"But, you know, at the end of the day if Qantas are not going to fly because of the cloud, do I want to be flying with someone else? Probably not.

"I would imagine Qantas would probably be reimbursing us ... I think there will be some sort of compensation."

- AAP