I say stay-tus, or more probably stay-tss. In Oz, there's a 'long a' vs 'short a' thing between west and east respectively. Adelaide counts as west. Graph is the prime example.

Dance, prance, plants, trance, etc being more of them. Which is what makes me think that your stay-tss doesn't fit in with the sequence. Are you saying you pronounce status with the same 'ah' sound as the other words? Always knew you South Aussies were a strange mob!