When done correctly, COVID-19 curfews have been proven to shorten lockdown periods and help flatten curves.

The closing down of Australia's second-largest city also coincided with frenetic preparation.

While Victoria's fluctuating daily infection count brings either hope or alarm, health authorities are most concerned by new cases of unknown origin.

Australia on Friday posted its second biggest one-day rise in new COVID-19 infections, with 438 cases.

For businesses on the border, which last closed during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1919, it also poses an immediate logistics headache.

The border between the states of New South Wales — home to Sydney — and Victoria — home to Melbourne — is due to be shut late Tuesday.

An elderly Australian couple signed for a package that was mistakenly delivered to their Melbourne home on Wednesday.

Police said several people were shot outside the popular Love Machine club.

Traffic was reportedly held-up for several minutes as the owners rounded up the dog and ushered it back into the vehicle.

A homeless Australian man who used a shopping trolley to help police thwart last week's militant attack in Melbourne has been charged over a series of burglaries.