While the main cast keep us glued to the set, the extras are the ones who keep Summer Bay afloat. Let’s face it – it would look pretty silly having the Sutherland twins wandering around empty school hallways.

But what does an extra do? Why are they so important? And how many pairs of cossies do they need? For all these answers and a few ‘extras’, keep reading.

It might look like there are only a few extras on the show, but did you know that Home and Away actually uses about 1000 people per year?

Being an extra can be a great way of being ‘discovered’ – if you’re lucky. Living proof of this is Rebecca Cartwright (Hayley) and Tammin Sursok (Dani), who got their major roles after being extras on the show.

It wasn’t only Tammin and Rebecca who were Home and Away extras before being offered major roles. After Ada Nicodemou (Leah) missed out on the role of Sarah to Laura Vasquez, she worked as an extra for a while.

Funnily enough, Ada’s onscreen hubby, Ryan Kwanten (Vinnie), had his first acting job playing a young surfie on Home and Away. Spooky!

Did you know that different extras are used for different scenes? Seriously! ‘Diner customers’ are usually different to ‘beachgoers’. The extras on the beach are mostly outdoor types who are fit and healthy looking.

While the show regularly receives letters from the general public asking for jobs as extras, the casting agency receives about one or two letters each week. This often includes mail from other states, and even overseas. Obviously, these people often can’t be made extras due to difficulties in getting to work – imagine travelling from the other side of the world to make it to a 3am call!

As far as make-up goes, life’s pretty easy. Usually extras don’t require too much make-up, unless they’re featured in the shot, or if it’s a special scene.

So, if they’re serving shakes in the diner, going to a formal or getting mucky in a mudslide, that’s when they hit the make-up chairs.

If you like clothes, you’ll love hanging out in the wardrobe department.

They have about 60 school dresses and 70 school shirts and with 50 to 60 extras tramping through the studio each week, it’s amazing that they’ve only run out of school clothing once or twice. But never fear – the wardrobe staff are quick thinkers: with 40 sporty uniforms, they created a PE class instead!

The wardrobe people have many things to consider, so they have costumes for everything – from diners, surfers, builders, doctors and nurses to lifeguards, birthing class couples, SES volunteers, disco dancers, taxi drivers … the list goes on!

While the extras have plenty to choose from, they are asked to bring in up to five outfits. The wardrobe department provides them with any little accessories they might need.

If you’re an extra, you have to be prepared to do some pretty scary things, for example, walking around in swimmers during winter, or being covered in mud, fake blood, rain, paint and all sorts of stuff.