A day of drama that included accusations, leaked emails and the “standing down” of a high-profile Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) staffer ended with a crisis meeting that stretched nearly three hours on Wednesday evening.

The AOC Executive met to discuss the alleged conduct of media officer Mike Tancred, who, only hours earlier, temporarily stood down from his position to allow a complaint from long-time CEO Fiona de Jong, who quit in October, to be investigated.

De Jong claims Tancred – the subject of further bullying accusations, including a death threat, which he denies – said he would “bury” her and that he was “abusive and threatening” during her time at the organisation.

Following the late-night meeting, conducted via teleconference, the AOC announced a three-person independent panel, made up of senior counsel or retired judges and including at least one woman, would investigate the claims and that they would come to a decision “within one month of their appointment”.

AOC boss John Coates, involved in what is becoming a bitter battle for the organisation’s top job, has been accused of ignoring the bullying and harassment claims, and the Executive said an “independent review, overseen by the incoming CEO, into workplace practices” was planned.

The extraordinary meeting was called by AOC board member and ex-St Kilda president Andrew Plympton.

Earlier on Wednesday, he told The New Daily: “Over the last weekend, with the adverse publicity regarding the AOC and the allegations raised in a very public forum by Fiona de Jong, it was appropriate that the AOC addressed the matter with urgency.”

On Tancred’s decision to step down for the time being, he added: “My view is one word: ‘appropriate’.”

Tancred told AAP: “I deny all the allegations made against me.”

Mike Tancred (right) has stepped down from his role at the AOC amid bullying allegations. Photo: AAP

De Jong also sent internal emails between Coates and senior management to AOC executive members on a day of drama, Fairfax Media revealed.

Included in the exchanges were Coates’ comments on a young AOC lawyer, who was undergoing chemotherapy, after an exchange between the pair.

The AOC boss is alleged to have said the lawyer involved should “get out in the real world” and that the Olympic Committee was not a “sheltered workshop”.

A sheltered workshop is a place where people with disabilities work, away from those who are fully abled.

Australian Paralympic Committee chief Lynne Anderson told Fairfax Media the comments were “denigrating”.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, who is supporting Danni Roche in her bid to end Coates’ 27-year reign in the top job, said it could be time for change.

“She [Danni] is a very decent, hard-working, smart and focused woman and she is someone I’m prepared to support publicly,” he told The New Daily.

“I have nothing personal against John Coates but I also think 27 years is a pretty good innings. 

“I think with 27 years, you develop a policy for sustainability or a successor, but that doesn’t seem to be there and that disturbs me greatly.”

How did we get here?

Danni Roche will be the first to challenge John Coates in his 27 years in charge of the AOC. Photo: AAP

Much of the discussion surrounding Coates’ suitability as AOC boss began when Roche – who won a gold medal with the Hockeyroos at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics – announced in March she would run for the top job in the upcoming May elections.

As reports of a clash between Coates and Australian Sports Commission boss John Wylie simmered away, Tancred weighed in and said those criticising the AOC chief were not fit “to carry his bag”.

Coates was then accused of ignoring accusations surrounding Tancred, with ex-AOC staffer Ryan Wells telling the ABC the media chief threatened to kill him, before de Jong detailed her experiences with Tancred to Fairfax Media.

Coates responded on Monday in a letter to national sports bosses, obtained by the Daily Telegraph, in which he denied a culture of bullying and slammed a “co-ordinated and sadly vindictive campaign to damage me”.

De Jong hit back, though, rebuffing Coates’ claim by reportedly sending AOC executive members 12 separate complaints of bullying during her time with the organisation and the controversial leaked emails.