With social distancing rules in place and strip clubs and brothels closed, sex workers around the world have seen their incomes disappear almost overnight as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Fearing for their livelihoods, as well as their health, some are offering services online to keep their business going, while others are turning to charities for help.

Estelle Lucas has worked as an escort for the past 10 years in Melbourne, carefully building relationships with her clients. But the spread of Covid-19 and the need for social distancing has prompted a ban on sex work, leaving her worried those efforts will go to waste.

"It's fair to say that if I'm not working for six months, a lot of people are going to forget me," she says.

"I can't contact my clients and just have a conversation with them. That doesn't work in my industry. We need to build intimacy and that's just not possible in the current environment."

Before the coronavirus outbreak, Estelle says she was earning an above-average income, and had hoped to soon pay off the mortgage on her home in Melbourne's inner suburbs.

Now nearly all her income has been lost. She has tried to adapt by moving her business online, but says that cannot replace physical contact.