The identities of hundreds of Australians connected to a secretive Panama law firm that helps the wealthy hide their fortunes are expected to be revealed within weeks.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which has access to 11.5 million documents leaked from Mossack Fonseca, says it will release the names of more than 214,000 offshore entities set up by the law firm.
It will also identify people from more than 200 countries connected to the offshore companies as beneficiaries, shareholders or directors.
"The exact release date will be confirmed soon," the ICIJ said on Thursday.
As news of the massive leak of the so-called Panama Papers broke on Monday, the Australian Taxation Office said it was investigating 800 Australian clients of the law firm, which has helped politicians, criminals and celebrities set up companies in offshore tax havens.
Mining giant BHP Billiton and Wilson Security, which has contracts to guard federal government buildings and detention centres, have already been linked to Mossack Fonseca.
The US-based ICIJ says that people should not assume that names that have appeared in the Panama Papers are involved in tax avoidance or evasion.
"There are legitimate reasons to create a company in an offshore jurisdiction and many people declare them to their tax authorities when that is required," it said.
However the Panama Papers have suggested, in some instances, that banks, politicians, criminals and celebrities have taken advantage of the secrecy offered by tax havens to break the law.
The ICIJ says it does not plan to release all 11.5 million documents, as some parts of the data are of a private nature and of no interest to the public.
It is continuing to work its way through the documents with media partners around the world to find stories of public interest.
Meanwhile, Panama's government is setting up an independent commission to review the country's financial practices and propose measures to help make its systems more transparent.
The US Treasury Department has also announced plans to force banks to demand the identities of people behind offshore companies and accounts.
Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson quit his job after the Panama Papers showed his wife owned an offshore company that held millions of dollars in debt from failed Icelandic banks.
The papers have also highlighted the financial arrangements of the late father of British Prime Minister David Cameron as well as associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and relatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
