Premier Daniel Andrews has warned Victorians that they will be punished if they flout the latest restrictions on outdoor gatherings of more than two people.
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"If you are outside, or in your backyard, gathering in more than two people, if you are having friends over for dinner or friends over for drinks that are not members of your household, then you are breaking the law," Mr Andrews said.
"Victoria Police will not hesitate to take action against you."
Playgrounds, skate parks and outdoor gyms will also close under the restrictions.
Mr Andrews said the step up in restrictions will help save lives, and slammed the poor behaviour of Victorians who flocked to beaches over the weekend.
"No gathering with friends is worth someone's life," he said.
"Unless you want to be burying an elderly relative or your best mate, or your parents, if they're younger, do the right thing.
"If everyone follows these rules and they are as simple as they can be, then we will slow the speed of this virus," he said.
"We will save, lives we will protect our health system, we will get through this together and we will get to the other side of it quicker.'
The restriction will come into force from midnight as the state recorded 56 new coronavirus cases overnight and a fourth death.
The latest cases to be reported were two Coles workers at a store in Mulgrave. The store remains open after it was extensively cleaned, with the Health Department of the opinion the staff presented an extremely low risk of transmission, a Coles spokesman said.
It comes as authorities are somewhat optimistic about how the crisis is developing.
The daily increase in cases has reduced to around 10 per cent from a high of 25 per cent.
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton estimated that Australia was still looking at a 10 per cent rate nationally, and said that would translate into 100,000 cases if measures had not been taken.
With the restrictions now in place, however, he said that number could be drastically reduced.
"This is our time to do the right thing to avoid transmission. Now, when levels are relatively low is when we can completely flatten the curve," he said.
"We can cap cases in Australia to 10,000 to 15,000. The alternative is hundreds of thousands, that means hundreds or thousands of deaths."
To ensure Victorians comply with the restrictions in place, on-the-spot fines of $1652 for individuals and $9913 for businesses will apply.
Larger fines can also be issued through the courts.
Victoria has recorded 821 COVID-19 cases and four deaths. Twenty-nine are in hospital, four in intensive care.
Australian Associated Press
