When Novak Djokovic was transferred to a Melbourne immigration detention facility, he joined over 30 men seeking asylum, some of who had been held by Australian authorities for close to a decade. As supporters of the world number one gathered outside the former Park Hotel in Carlton the men inside watched from their confinement, trapped in Australia's hardline immigration system. Activists who have long called for the release of the men outside the building found themselves surrounded by a mix of groups vying for a place in the world’s gaze. "The best situation out of this is to highlight the inhumane conditions that these innocent people are being held in. I mean, if it takes an international tennis star to bring it to the world stage, go for it," federal senator Lidia Thorpe says from a protest outside the building. Just across a small park, Qamaria Sherani, 31, who fled Afghanistan a month ago with her husband and five children, reflects on a system that offered her a chance a new life, while leaving others in limbo. “We have been through all this (isolation of hotel quarantine),” Sherani says. "It’s a very hard time. They shouldn’t be up there so if it is possible, they must come out," she told AFP. But even as she begins to hope for a better life for her children in Australia, the arduous journey and process of seeking shelter in Australia left many of her family behind. “Some people here think that we are fortunate that we came out from there. But you know we have [left] a huge family behind. We left them. Our parents, our brothers, siblings and all. So they are in that situation and we are quite worried about them." IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES