'Now is the time': Melbourne shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants will finally open tomorrow night after three months of lockdown - here's everything you need to know about Victoria's huge changes
Melbourne residents will finally be able to leave their homes for any reason from Tuesday night as pubs, shops and restaurants open after three months of gruelling coronavirus lockdown.
Premier Daniel Andrews has relaxed restrictions for the city of five million which has been shut down since 8 July after the virus escaped from two quarantine hotels and caused a mass outbreak which peaked at 725 new cases on 5 August.
Pubs, shops and restaurants will be allowed to open with 20 people indoors and 50 outside - and these limits will increase in two weeks' time.
Weddings in Melbourne will be allowed 10 people from Tuesday 27 October at 11.59pm
Premier Daniel Andrews (pictured on Monday) has relaxed restrictions for Melbourne, a city of five million
Victoria free at last: What are the changes?
From Tuesday 27 October, 11.59pm
All retail, bars and restaurants open with 20 indoors and 50 outdoors
Beauty services and tattoo parlours open
Outdoor contact sport for under 18s back on and non-contact sport for adults
Four reasons to leave home removed
25km travel limit remains in place
Melbourne to regional VIC border remains
Outdoor gatherings up to 10 people
Gatherings can be of more than two households
Weddings increase to 10 attendees, funerals to 20
Church services open with 10 indoors and 20 outdoors
PT, fitness and dance classes can be held outdoors with up to 10 people
Number of people at outdoor pools can increase to 50, subject to density limits
Must work from home if you can
From 8 November
25km travel limit scrapped
Travel to regional VIC allowed
Retail, pubs and restaurants allowed 40 people indoors, 70 outdoors
Funerals allowed indoors with 20 and outdoors with 50
Non-contact sport for U18s allowed indoors
Gyms and indoor fitness will be able to reopen
Holiday accommodation to re-open
Religious gatherings will expand with up 20 people and a faith leader indoors, and 50 outside
Residents will be able to gather outside with up to 10 people and there will no longer be any limit on the number of households that can come together at once.
Limits for indoor gatherings are still being finalised and will be announced on Tuesday.
A 25km travel limit and the so-called 'ring of steel' preventing Melbourne residents from leaving the city will remain in place until 8 November.
Announcing the changes on Monday, an emotional Mr Andrews thanked Victorians for fighting the 'wicked enemy' of coronavirus.
'Now is the time to open up. Now is the time to congratulate every single Victorian for staying the course,' he said.
'Now is the time to thank every single Victorian family for being guided by the data, the science and the doctors... It was worth waiting.'
Mr Andrews warned Victorians to follow the rules to keep the virus at bay.
'It is not over. This virus is not going away,' he said.
'It is going to continue to be a feature of our lives. It is going to be a feature of our lives every day until a vaccine turns up. These are big steps.'
Asked if he would be opening a beer tonight to celebrate, the premier, who has done 117 daily press conferences in a row with no day off, said: 'I might go a little higher up the shelf.'
In a swipe at opposition politicians who called for him to open up sooner, Mr Andrews said: 'We haven't been pushed by the loudest voices into making irresponsible choices.'
The premier last week said restrictions would be eased on Sunday but the announcement was delayed as seven cases were recorded, causing backlash from furious Victorians.
Mr Andrews was under pressure from the federal government to open up after it was revealed lockdown was costing 1,200 jobs per day and seeing taxpayers shell out $200million a day in federal economic support.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Health Minister Greg Hunt also slammed the premier for not opening up.
They said the decision to keep businesses closed suggests the Victorian government doesn't have 'sufficient confidence' in its contact tracing system to manage future outbreaks.
On Monday Victoria recorded zero new cases for the first time since 9 June and Mr Hunt called for restrictions to be eased.
Premier Andrews hit back at suggestions the contact tracing system was not ready, saying: 'This is about being confident in the systems and processes in place. They have, with the hard work of Victorians, delivered these numbers.'
Businesses have broadly welcomed the changes but some say the relaxation does not go far enough, given that restaurants can only have 20 people indoors.
'I don't foresee any more than 50 per cent of our Chapel Street Precinct restaurants and cafes will reopen given the density quotas' said Ms Chrissie Maus, General Manager of the Chapel Street Precinct.
'The fact people can't go to the gym, yoga, or Pilates is just exacerbating the situation with the mental health impact on our community now at a critical stage,' she added.
Monday's figures showed average daily cases over the past fortnight down to 3.6 for Melbourne and seven mystery cases from October 10-23.
The corresponding figures for regional areas are 0.2 and zero.
A testing blitz confirmed an outbreak in the northern suburbs that delayed Monday's announcement by 24 hours appears to be under control.
Asked if he would be opening a beer tonight to celebrate, the premier (pictured on Monday) said: 'I might go a little higher up the shelf'
Residents will be able to gather outside with up to 10 people and there will no longer be any limit on the number of households that can come together at once
Mr Andrews' daily media conference was delayed on Monday until mid-afternoon as the government awaited latest test results from the outbreak area.
More than 5,000 tests across the affected area have all come back negative, Mr Andrews confirmed.
Victoria's death toll stands at 817 and the nation's is at 905.
All Victorian students are now back in the classroom, with 163,000 of them from Year 8-10 in Melbourne returning to on-site learning on Monday.
Melbourne went into lockdown on 8 July - with restrictions toughened in August - amid a huge outbreak caused after security guards caught the disease from returned travellers in quarantine hotels.
The government has faced criticism for using private security to man the hotels instead of police and ADF troops.
The 15-week shut down was longer than the 11-week closure of Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus was identified late last year.
Public Order Riot Police move down St Kilda road during anti-lockdown protests on Sunday