From 11.59pm on Thursday, September 9, the five reasons to leave the home will be removed and there will be no limit on the distance regional Victorians can travel from home – other than restrictions on entry to metropolitan Melbourne.
"Businesses will be able to reopen. There will be limits, as I have said a number of times now, it is not a snap back or freedom day or 100 per cent capacity down at the pub. It can't be," Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said.
"If it is, we will simply see numbers spreading and then we will have to close large parts of regional Victoria down again and perhaps all of regional Victoria and we don't want to do that."
Mr Andrews said Greater Shepparton was on track to follow suit next week.
"On Shepparton, we hope to have them catch up to the rest of regional Victoria sometime next week and we will make those announcements as soon as we have tidied up the last bits of the outbreak there," he said.
"The Goulburn Valley community has done an amazing job and I thank everybody who has volunteered and isolated at home and everybody who has been through that 14-day journey and to all of our staff under the command of Deb Abbott and so many others they have done a fantastic job.
"Hopefully we can have Greater Shepparton on the same footing as rest of regional Victoria next week and the sooner we can do that the better."
It came as the state recorded 221 new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 overnight.
From midnight Thursday, the Authorised Worker list will no longer apply, meaning most businesses and venues can reopen with capacity and density limits.
Regional Victorians will return to the rule ‘if you can work from home, you should work from home’, but office workers will be able to return up to 25 per cent or up to 10 people, whichever is greater.
Schools can reopen for onsite learning for Prep to Grade 2 and Year 12 students who live in regional Victoria, while remote learning will remain for all other levels.
Onsite supervision at schools remains available for vulnerable children and children of essential workers in all year levels, including for students from metropolitan Melbourne.
Visitors to the home will not be allowed, but public gatherings up to 10 people can take place.
Funerals will be permitted for up to 20 people and weddings will be permitted for up to 10 people, plus those required to conduct the service. Stricter limits will be in place for both weddings and funerals with people from Melbourne in attendance.
Restaurants and cafes can reopen for seated service with patron caps. Retail, hairdressing, entertainment venues and community facilities will also open in line with density limits and patron caps.
Gyms and other indoor sport and recreation facilities will not be allowed to open.
Masks will continue to be required indoors and outdoors, apart from private residences, unless an exception applies.
While restrictions remain in metropolitan Melbourne, businesses that are open in regional Victoria – such as restaurants or beauty services – must check the IDs of everyone they serve.
Victoria Police will significantly expand their operation along the metropolitan border to protect regional Victoria and will be out in force in regional areas,conducting spot checks to ensure people from metropolitan Melbourne are not in the regionals are not unless forauthorised reasons.
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