At 5:30 p.m. the Australian 1st Infantry Brigade attacked as the first wave of 1,800 men threw themselves forward.[9][31] To their north, the troops of the 2nd Infantry Brigade laid down suppressing fire on the supporting Ottoman troops at Johnston's Jolly, while the 3rd Infantry and 2nd Light Horse Brigades held the line opposite Sniper's Ridge.[32] Half the force went via the prepared tunnels and half crossed the exposed ground between the trench lines. Dubbed the "Daisy Patch",[4] it amounted to a distance of about 100 metres (110 yd) and it was raked with Ottoman artillery and small arms fire.[5] From his headquarters overlooking the fighting, the senior Ottoman commander Esad Pasa, began to co-ordinate the response, passing orders for reinforcements to be brought up and calling down artillery.[6] Casualties among the first wave of attackers were "relatively light" as the defenders in the front line of Ottoman trenches were still sheltering from the preliminary bombardment and had not had time to return to their fire steps after it had been lifted.[31]