I lodged an application for UAC towards the end of August and the first offers are being made this Thursday (October 29). Do early round offers work on a FIFO (First in First Out) basis or do they do specific groups (For example, the October offers are for undergrads wanting to transfer, November offer intake is for those who missed etc.) or is it randomnised?
Pretty much all of the offers are made in the main round, which is in usually around January 15th.
Its not first in first served. Most applicants do not receive their qualifications/marks until after November or December - such as ATAR, university transcripts and other qualifications. Offers will not be made until these are available. The early round are often based on previous qualifications. For example I applied through QTAC with my UAI from 2008 and semester 1 of university studies. Because I was not waiting on any results I got an offer in the October round because my UAI was clearly in for the course I want. Basically there are a certain amount of spots offered, and the people who bust satisfy the selection criteria at that point get the offers.
If you are going of already supplied qualifications, and you are clearly fulfill admission requirements you may get an offer early. Most offers come out in the main round and offers in the late round are often for people who did not get the cutoff but are still being let in because of enough places.
Offer rounds generally are not for any specific group of people, transfers, mature age etc. all usually come out of the main round.