I think “Mortimer” is wrong – Councils do not get directly involved in fire safety upgrade Orders – rather they require the OC to use an accredited fire safety expert to inspect the building, and to provide a report to the OC of what fire safety equipment is required (which eventually becomes the Fire Safety Schedule). Council will then review the report, and then require it to be implemented (and may ask for changes, which you can negotiate about, or your expert can), and then provide a period for doing so (usually a couple of years).
So each OC should select the accredited fire safety expert with care, and find one that will take into account the owners’ wishes. Note that some fire safety experts are employed by fire safety inspection companies, which afterwards inspect and check the equipment listed on the Fire Safety Schedule each year (or more frequently for some kinds of equipment), and then prepare the Annual Fire Safety Statement (AFSS) which is filed with Council. The experts can innocently or deliberately, produce a report that requires the “bells and whistles”, because they might be unfamiliar with the rules (ie, that the fire safety equipment needs to be reasonable and according to the age of the building, and the building code at that time), or are hoping to cash in on their company being involved with planning and installing the new equipment.
Remember the NSW strata law requires that any job costing more than $30k must have at least 2 quotes. This would normally cover employing a fire safety expert to inspect and report on the building’s fire safety, and the later work to install the equipment. You may have to pay for each expert’s inspection, for them to quote on the job, which is commonly ~$350. Pick your fire safety expert carefully!
Voluntary fire safety upgrades are a good idea. Council will normally accept the building’s plans, as submitted voluntarily, which can be scheduled more flexibly, and so cost less, without being under pressure of deadlines. But the Fire Service or Council can trigger a fire safety upgrade Order at any time – a fire in the building (or many false alarms) will automatically trigger this. But ALL buildings are being brought into the system, and an owner complaining to the local Council about the fire safety in the building will usually trigger an Order too (and make that owner unpopular, when the costs are discovered). Councils are currently working through all the pre-1988 buildings and issuing Orders…