Direct answer: Channel Ten’s Rush (the Australian tactical-response drama) was filmed mainly on location around Melbourne with only a few studio interiors, its production often moved quickly and relied on fast casting/availability for guest parts, and on-location shoots typically used police escorts so production vehicles were frequently followed by marked police cars (with some unmarked presence for realism).

Production and casting

  • Rush ran 2008–2011 and was a Network Ten series produced as a high-energy police drama.
  • The show needed many guest actors for incident-driven episodes, and producers described a fast, intense on-set tempo which implies tight casting windows and quick audition/booking of guest performers and extras when scripts and locations locked down.

Filming locations and studio use

  • Production was “filmed almost entirely on location with only a few interior scenes,” meaning most scenes were shot outside of a studio and on Melbourne streets or nearby suburbs.
  • IMDb and location lists show many Melbourne-area sites (Footscray, Albert Park, Maribyrnong, Bendigo school, etc.), confirming broad on-location shooting across the region rather than reliance on soundstages.

Police cars and escorts on shoots

  • The production team reported they needed police cars escorting them “front and back” for drive-around/vehicle filming, and used low loaders and multiple camera positions for vehicle work, so having police vehicles accompany the production was routine on location shoots.
  • Those police vehicles were used to secure and close roads for filming; while reports emphasize visible police escorts, productions like this commonly coordinate both marked and unmarked police resources depending on the scene and the approvals — official commentary mentions police cars escorting the unit but does not list a strict always-unmarked policy, so marked cars were certainly used while unmarked cars may also have been used where tactically appropriate.

Practical implications (what that looked like on-set)

  • Because most episodes recreate real tactical incidents, the location team was large and often had only about 10 days to secure approvals, so last-minute changes and quick casting choices were frequent.
  • Expect to see visible marked police vehicles in many exterior sequences (road closures, convoy shots) and occasional unmarked vehicles or plain‑clothes officers used for authenticity or when scenes required less conspicuous policing.

Example scene setup (illustration)

  • For a car-chase or convoy: production would mount cameras on low-loaders and position camera cars, then coordinate police cars ahead and behind to clear traffic — these escorts were regular for vehicle work.

Sources

  • Reporting about Rush’s production and behind‑the‑scenes (producer quotes and location-team descriptions).
  • Filming-location listings showing extensive Melbourne and regional location use (IMDb/location pages).

Bottom note: Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here. Would you like me to pull specific episode- location examples or cast/audition timelines next?