Victoria has recorded 63 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours and five more deaths, with Premier Daniel Andrews set to reveal the state's roadmap out of lockdown on Sunday.
The numbers take the state's total fatalities to 666 and the national death toll to 753.
Meetings have been held late into the night as the government and health advisors nail down how and when Melbourne and regional Victoria will come out of respective Stage Four and Stage Three restrictions.
The Victorian community and especially Melburnians, who have been subject to night curfews, workforce shutdowns, limits to local travel and bans on social visits, want relief.
But modelling produced by experts from the universities of Melbourne and New England and reported by the ABC seems to paints a bleak picture.
Health officials are now warning Melburnians may remain in Stage Four lockdown until mid-October.
Melbourne entered Stage Four restrictions in August for six weeks, with the public told the measures would hold until 13 September.
The government has already flagged that single people who live alone may be soon permitted to have a visitor as concerns have grown about the mental health effects of prolonged social isolation.
The state's coronavirus death toll is 661 following 11 additional deaths on Saturday.
There were 76 new diagnoses reported on Saturday, making a total of 1956 active cases.
Infection rates have been dropping since Stage Three restrictions were reintroduced in Melbourne in July and then later stage four.
Daily case numbers started to dip below 100 in late August and have mostly stayed out of triple digits since.
Many Melburnians cling to the premier's daily reports of the figures, for signs of the state's progress towards normality.
Mr Andrews has long said that a return to pre-pandemic life is a long way off but the way forward is a new kind of normal.
"[The strategy] will give us a 'COVID normal' that we can lock in so that as we look to Christmas and to 2021," he said on Saturday.
"We have every confidence we can have a stable set of rules."
Business leaders have meanwhile warned of more job losses unless the government's roadmap addresses key issues.
"What we need is a plan to get business going again," Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacot told ABC Insiders on Sunday morning.
"People with COVID-safe plans, where there's no transmission, why can't they open? ... If there are regions in Victoria where there haven't been cases, why can't they open?
"We need a plan that is simple, that is predictable, that does not go backwards."
Federal Liberal MP Ben Morton and assistant minister to Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Mr Andrews' plan has been developed by the Victorian government for Victoria alone.
"It's not a plan that's been developed in partnership or close consultation with the Commonwealth," Mr Morton told Sky News's Sunday Agenda program.
He said the plan must ensure Victoria now has the testing, tracing and quarantine capacity like that in NSW.
"Any plan to avoid lockdowns and any plan to get out of lockdowns has to demonstrate that there are those mechanisms," he said.
The premier and Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton have been at pains recently to ask the public to remain disciplined in their lockdown efforts despite sunny spring weather tempting people outdoors.
Brett Sutton warned restrictions would not fully lift until community transmission is eradicated. (AAP) Source: AAP
"This is the last gasp of the virus and we need to work harder than maybe we've ever done before to make sure that that last gasp is, indeed, the last one," Professor Sutton said on Saturday.
Discontent in some quarters has grown throughout Melbourne's lockdown period, with just a small minority expressing their opposition to the premier's cautious approach.
Police arrested 17 people and fined at least 160 others on Saturday for taking part in an anti-lockdown rally in the city.
Metropolitan Melbourne residents are subject to Stage 4 restrictions and must comply with a curfew between the hours of 8pm and 5am. During the curfew, people in Melbourne can only leave their house for work, and essential health, care or safety reasons.
Between 5am and 8pm, people in Melbourne can leave the home for exercise, to shop for necessary goods and services, for work, for health care, or to care for a sick or elderly relative. The full list of restrictions can be found here.
All Victorians must wear a face covering when they leave home, no matter where they live.
People in Australia must stay at least 1.5 metres away from others. Check your state’s restrictions on gathering limits.
If you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms, stay home and arrange a test by calling your doctor or contact the Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080. News and information is available in 63 languages at
