The United Kingdom wasted $30 million on around two million antibody test kits found to be inaccurate.

Mr Hunt is confident Australia's kits will work, but wants to wait for experts to evaluate the safety of the method before putting it into use.

"What Australia has purchased is of the highest quality," he said in Melbourne on Thursday.

Antibody tests are designed to check if someone has had the disease, giving health authorities a more accurate picture of how the virus has spread.

Mr Hunt said the expert medical panel wanted to do more work on how the tests should be used before giving them the green light.

"We do know that some countries were provided tests and equipment in the early days which may not have been fully accurate," he said.

"We've made sure that it is our health authorities, following the highest procurement standards, that have made the procurement.

"But then we have to make sure that there is full and safe and accurate testing, validation and affirmation from our scientific and medical authorities to ensure that anything we do is safe."

He said the antibody method would not be a replacement for the pathology lab tests that are being used to detect infections.

Australian Associated Press