@Mammasalt - Take a step back from the fear of getting arrested if you can. I think it's probably going to help a lot to find some ways to ground and reach out to one of the legal aid agencies in Australia. An attorney would be the best person to advise on what to say to the police if being arrested. It seems awfully unlikely you will be arrested, especially if you are having honest communication with the collector/court and are simply waiting to hear back. If you are making an effort to work with them, they are not likely to want to spend all the money to arrest you.
In the US, photo tickets are fairly contestable - and easy to miss in the mail. In fact, in order to hold someone to a photo ticket, someone has to be personally served the ticket, and it will be set for a court date, and the person can pay or go to court. It may be very different in Australia, but I doubt they are sending tons of people to jail for overlooked unpaid photo radar tickets.
In the US, anything you say can "and WILL" be used against the person, even things like admitting having PTSD. In the US, it's best to say no comment, I wish to exercise my right to counsel, and tell the officers you will comply with their requests... But in Australia, they could handle so much better. Either way, an attorney is the one who should be advising on what to say to law enforcement, especially if you are worried you will freak out.
It makes sense to be scared and triggered by this, but thinking about all the what if's is probably not helpful.
Instead, focus on what you can do: reach out to the court and/or legal counsel about dealing with this. The fact that you are already declaring bankruptcy, and if you have notified the court already of your intent to eventually pay or contest the ticket - this is going to help the court understand the situation even more and not seek to throw you in jail. If you have not heard back from them, probably time to give them another call, and/or even better, write them a letter so you can document you are trying to address the matter, and ask the court staff what can be done. In the US, someone can even ask the court if they have a warrant or other order issued for your arrest or not, and if so, then reach out to legal aid on how to handle it and they can help resolve it without getting arrested.
If you are making well documented efforts to address the ticket, there is probably a greater chance of being struck by lightening than being arrested. (But again, legal aid would be the best to advise on this.)
