Beaconsfield, Australia ? Rescuers measured progress in fractions of an inch today as they chipped away rock harder than concrete to free two Australian gold miners trapped for nearly two full weeks deep underground.

Working through the night, a team of miners using pneumatic drills tried to punch through 45 feet of rock to reach Brant Webb, 37 and Todd Russell, 34, who have been entombed in a steel cage almost 3,000 feet underground since April 25.

Today, rescue teams were forced to shore up the escape shaft, a painstaking safety measure that was expected to further delay the effort to reach the men.

“It is still precarious,” said the official, Bill Shorten. “This work is complex and difficult, unique in its challenges, that’s why they have to set it up right.”

Less than six feet from the trapped men, the rescuers switched to hand drills to avoid causing a cave-in. The solid rock crust, 59 inches thick, slowed progress to fractions of an inch.

Shorten said the rescue workers were directly below the cavity where Webb and Russell have survived for more than 280 hours, and were drilling vertically through the rock. Only one miner at a time could work in the cramped tunnel, lying on his back and wielding an 88-pound drill above his head.

“Most Olympic athletes would struggle in the conditions these hard rock miners are working in,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Sunday.

Officials had hoped the men would be freed Saturday, prompting hundreds of local residents to gather at the mine’s gates eager to catch a glimpse of the men who have become local heroes.

The death Sunday of a renowned television journalist from a suspected heart attack, just minutes after asking a question at an afternoon news conference, further cast a shadow over the town.

Richard Carleton, an award-winning reporter with the Nine Network’s “60 Minutes,” had been asking about the mine’s safety record.