It comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese encouraged people to avoid driving where they can.
Australians may have to ration fuel as a "last resort", according to an energy expert, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese encourages people to avoid driving where they can.
The Grattan Institute Energy and Climate Change Program director Alison Reeve said the federal government will likely consider rationing fuel supply if all other contingencies fail.
"The first one is to make sure that we are keeping the Asian refineries supplying fuel to Australia, because that's where most of our refined fuel comes from," she said.
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"If those supplies don't end up being adequate, and that may happen because all of those refineries rely on oil from the Middle East, the second layer is that we start importing fuel from further away, so possibly from the US.
"The third layer is an informal demand management situation."
Australia is currently in phase two of its four-point national fuel plan: keep Australia moving.
Fuel rationing could be implemented at phase four if ongoing supply chain disruptions require government intervention to protect critical services.
The federal government has made it clear that it's trying to avoid fuel rationing and any COVID-style interventions.
But Albanese used his rare national address last night to advise people to switch to public transport if they can to save fuel for those who have no choice but to drive.
READ MORE: Trump told US allies to 'get your own oil'. But he might be bluffing
"Farmers and miners and tradies who need diesel, every single day, and all those shift workers and nurses, who do so much for our country," he said.
Reeve said the remarks were a way to signal "well ahead of time" who would be exempt from potential fuel rationing measures.
"He's building a social expectation around what the priority order will be without actually having to legislate it," she said.
Australia currently has 39 days of petrol, 30 days of diesel and 30 days of jet fuel available and the federal government has secured fuel shipments through to May.
While the figures seem alarming on the surface, Reeve said the reserves are a buffer that can be extended if demand drops.
"If we drop fuel consumption by 20 per cent, the 30 days of diesel reserves will actually last for 150 days," she said.
READ MORE: Was Albanese's prime-time address really worth all that bother?
The war in Iran seems far from over as US President Donald Trump today declared that operations will only intensify in the coming two to three weeks.
He left it to allies to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, after previously calling for their support and receiving little to none, or suggested they buy their oil from the US.
"They should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on," he said in a national address.
"Build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait and get it, take it. Protect it, use it for yourselves."
The global conflict has raised fuel prices past $3 a litre, caused panic-buying and left hundreds of petrol stations running low across Australia.
Reeve warned that supply chains and fuel prices will never go back to what they were.
READ MORE: WA premier enacts emergency fuel powers as PM urges calm
"We will probably all adjust in the meantime," she said.
"One of the things that happens, and this is similar to what we saw with COVID, it's similar to what we saw in the 1970s and 80s with oil shocks, people actually permanently change their behaviour.
"People buy smaller cars, for example. The big option that we've got now is switching to electric cars. Maybe we start to use fertiliser differently.
"That actually means that things never go back to exactly the same set of supply chains and prices that you had before, but they'll get to a new kind of equilibrium point where everyone's got what they need, and that's because the supply is adjusted, but also because the demand has adjusted."
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