If you’re making an Australian political thriller set in the very heart of national government, there is only one place to film it: Parliament House in Canberra. Problem is, the big place on top of the hill is usually off limits to TV drama crews.

“We thought it was an impossible dream but we decided to try anyway,” says Shelley Birse, creator and writer of The Code, a six-part ABC drama premiering on Sunday night.

“We had an extremely thorough and fantastic location manager who just followed all the process and pursued every angle,” Birse says. “We knew that the chances were slim and that parliamentary services had the right to ask for all the scripts. Based on their opinion of the story they could just say yes or no depending on whether it reflected well on Parliament House or not.”

Given the very dark nature of the story, which explores media manipulation, corruption and cover-up at the highest levels of government, it’s a miracle the access was approved.

Birse agrees and admits she was surprised by the green light: “What got us over the line was a fantastic voice within parliament who stood up at the last minute and said it’s the people’s house, it belongs to the people and the people have a right to come in and tell stories as they do with most public buildings in Australia.

“That was a great testament to a grown-up attitude. Are we an adult enough society to look in the mirror even though it might not always be flattering?”

Flattering of the political process The Code is not. It was filmed inside Parliament House, but it isn’t a script the leaders would have written themselves.

The story centres on brothers Ned and Jesse Banks, a journalist and a hacker, who are leaked a phone video about an outback accident and when they post it online their lives are threatened. As the brothers, played by Dan Spielman and Ashley Zukerman, pursue the truth behind the chilling video, the viewer is given a glimpse into a world in which politicians will go to extreme lengths to keep a secret.

“I’ve told a story about some political machinations in government behind the scenes,” Birse says. “If you were involved in those shenanigans you will recognise them.”

Spielman and Zukerman are supported by a strong cast of familiar faces, including Lucy Lawless, Adam Garcia, David Wenham and Aden Young, all of whom signed up on the strength of the fast-paced and intriguing script.

The idea for the series – so well received it has already been sold to BBC Four, the Sundance Channel in Latin America, the Audience Network in the US and Denmark’s public broadcaster DR – came to Birse during the Arab Spring. She was inspired by the Australians involved in digital activism and whistleblowing.

“These people were having a massive impact on the world using just their brains and technology,” Birse says. If the Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, was also an inspiration, she won’t say, preferring to let the story stand on its own.

Birse created the series with the support of a grant from the Australian production house Playmaker, called Scribe. This initiative gave her time to create a very modern political thriller and anchor it in an era where emerging technology is changing power structures.

The online hacking world is juxtaposed with the solitude of the outback setting where the accident involving two Indigenous teenagers took place. The action switches constantly between these two extremes of Australian life: Canberra and Broken Hill

There is no doubt this is an expensive, high-end series and it comes with the added pressure of having to perform to justify the budget. “We’re sitting in a time when, particularly at the ABC, budgets are under extreme scrutiny, incredible scrutiny,” Birse says. “Screen Australia has been chopped and the funding bodies are feeling it intensely. The pressure is: do you spend money on a small expensive piece?”

She concludes: “We are just so lucky. The hope is that by making something ambitious it potentially opens markets. We’re increasingly in a culture where borders are breaking down, so we must tell stories about Australians on the world stage.”

• The Code airs on ABC1 at 8.30pm AEST on 21 September