Work to fix a ruptured gas pipeline in South Australia's mid-north is well advanced but thousands of residents and businesses in Port Pirie and Whyalla will still be without supplies for several days.
Epic Energy, which owns the line, said excavation work to expose the damaged pipe was 80 per cent complete by Tuesday morning and replacement pipe was being transported to the site.
The damaged pipe would also be sent to Adelaide for technical assessment.
Chief executive Clive D'Cruz said the excavation was a delicate operation that required care and caution.
"We understand time is of the essence for those affected and are moving as quickly and safely as we can so gas supplies can be restored as soon as possible," Mr D'Cruz said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Our team of engineers, field operators, maintenance staff, welders and excavator operators have worked hard throughout the night to excavate and expose the damaged pipe.
"We appreciate the significant impact the outage is having for residents and businesses alike."
The company expected to complete the excavation and have a clearer understanding of the extent of the repairs required and the likely timeframe for restoring supplies by Wednesday morning.
The gas shutdown is expected to cost the two regions millions of dollars with many restaurants, hotels and cafes forced to close their doors or scale back operations.
The Nyrstar smelter in Port Pirie was also shut down with workers tasked to maintenance jobs.
Public hospitals in Port Pirie and Whyalla continued to operate relatively normally with supplies of bottled gas brought in.
Some nursing homes were also using bottled gas.
In Port Pirie, the city council opened the town's swimming pool to allow residents to use the shower facilities and also organised a free community barbecue for Tuesday night to provide a hot meal for those without cooking facilities.
An exclusion zone was established around the site of the rupture, between Caltowie and Gladstone, with police maintaining road blocks.
The cause of Sunday's rupture was still to be determined but was possibly the result of a minor earthquake in the area several days ago.
Epic Energy said later on Tuesday that excavation work to expose the damaged line had been completed.
It said work would continue around the clock and its timeframe for restoring gas services remained on track at late Friday or early Saturday.
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