According to his kin, Haneef was the "only breadwinner" of the family comprising an aged mother, his two siblings, his wife and their child.
Since Haneef's father's died a decade ago, the family had managed to get by on some savings and a monthly pension, a family member said. He replied in the negative to a question on whether the family had any income from property.
Haneef had been meeting the expenses on the education of his brother Sohaib, currently studying in an engineering college here, while his sister had secured scholarships to see her through college.
Haneef too had secured several scholarships while studying for his medical degree, the family member said.
Reacting to reports about Haneef paying a very high rent for accommodation in Australia, he said the family was aware of this. "Yes, the rent was high but you know how costly it is to stay abroad."
He, however, refused to divulge Haneef's approximate salary or whether he splurged money.
According to the family, Haneef had borne the expenses of his marriage a few years ago with the money he earned by working abroad.
When Haneef moved in to his new apartment in Australia in September, his meager possessions were packed in plastic bags.
For weeks, 27-year-old Haneef and his wife Firdous slept on the floor until a bed and couch were delivered, the Courier Mail reported on Sunday.
There was no television in the Gold Coast apartment and one of the unit's two rooms seemed to be set aside for prayers, with religious posters in both Arabic and English on the walls.
Yet he always paid his rent on time and was polite to the point of being meek, the newspaper quoted apartment block's managers Steve and Meryl Boscher as saying.
Haneef paid 250 Australian dollars a week for the unit, the Boschers said. Just a short walk from the Gold Coast Hospital where Haneef worked, the 56 units in the block are popular among health workers.
When Haneef turned up to apply for his unit, speaking flawless English with a British accent, he had no photo identification but was carrying his Queensland Health employment contract, the Boschers said.
The unit managers needed only to make a quick assessment of his character and look at his salary to give him the nod of approval.
The Boschers cannot recall his exact pay package, but they remember it was well in excess of the average salary for most residents.
Haneef certainly didn't blink when ask to pay four weeks' bond and two weeks' rent in advance, they said.
To his new neighbours, Haneef was just a hard-working doctor at the nearby hospital's accident and emergency ward.
He worked 10-hour shifts, eight times a fortnight. "They fitted in," said a hospital staff member. "They just did their work like anybody else."
Alarm bells rang only once, when a colleague was surprised by Haneef's ability.
Haneef was working with a female specialist on an intensive care patient who required surgery for a serious prostate problem.
"I couldn't understand why, if he was so good, he had ended up in a dead-end job like this. I mean, the Gold Coast Hospital is not seen as a hotbed in the medical world," the specialist told a colleague.
His face was also known at the Arundel mosque, the Gold Coast's only mosque, according to the Imam Imraan Husain.
"He has been coming to the mosque but not that strictly, maybe because he's a doctor," the Imam said. "My impression of him is a very peaceful, very spiritual person."
Islamic Council Gold Coast president Abdul Naseem, however, said he could not recall Haneef. "I don't know anyone who knows him and I have been to the mosque three times this week," Naseem said.