Canberrans stuck at the NSW-Victorian border for six days will have a four day window to drive home under strict conditions.

Some 100 ACT residents were trapped at the border on Friday after a last-minute change to permits last week. They will be able to drive home between Thursday and Sunday.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said NSW Police would assist to ensure the ACT residents didn't pose a health risk to the state.

Mr Hazzard said the drivers must take a direct route and could only travel between 9am and 3pm.

The drivers must refuel at Wodonga and will not be allowed to get petrol on the three-and-a-half hour journey to Canberra.

There will be one designated stop on the journey, at the Mingay rest area, north of Gundagai.

The residents must not return to NSW within 14 days and will spend that time in self-isolation upon return to the ACT.

The ACT government had been working with the NSW government since Friday to find a solution to the issue.

Anne Cahill-Lambert - who has been stuck at Benalla after trying to return home to the ACT last week - said she felt a mix of relief and anger.

"I should say that this approach to Australia was not what our forefathers - and there were no mothers - had in mind," Ms Cahill-Lambert said.

"The premier made no apologies for keeping NSW people safe, but she was doing this at the expense of other Australians by wanting to send them to the epicentre of the pandemic to fly to Sydney - the second epicentre of the pandemic. This is tribal rather than Australian."

PREVIOUSLY

In the border town of Wodonga, the miserable Canberra travellers trapped by the rule change that cancelled their travel permits have been smothered in kindness.

Motels have slashed their rates for the Canberrans caught on the wrong side of bureaucracy.

In some unscrupulous places, hotels jack up their prices when demand rises - but not in Wodonga.

"We are just trying to give them reduced rates so they aren't hurting," Mark Brown, the manager of the Blazing Stump Motel and Suites, said.

Strangers have helped beleaguered travellers with their internet and guided them to the right office in town where help might be available.

IN OTHER NEWS:

There's been discussion about setting up food runs for the people sleeping in cars.

In the fires, there was emergency accommodation in the show ground and if the current impasse continues, Mr Brown said the town would do the same again.

The unexpected crisis suddenly appeared on Friday, after the block on travel across the border into NSW was imposed at midnight on Thursday night.

When it emerged that countless people were trapped in Wodonga, the first thing mayor Anna Speedie did was ring the police.

The police said that the people trapped were in genuine need, so the mayor rang round the town's hotels urging them to put out the welcome mat for the beleaguered non-travellers, many of whom are trying to get home to Canberra.

"These are gorgeous people and they are very upset and we are trying to do the right thing," she said. "They are really genuine, but through misguided, misplaced bureaucracy, this has happened."

The people temporarily stuck in Wodonga appreciate the kindness.

On Monday night, farmer Kim Cartwright and his wife Robyn got a visit from the people who run the local take-away.

"We had told them our story and got back to the room with the food," he said.

"At about seven o'clock there was 'knock, knock, knock'. They had come to tell us where there was an office where we might get help.

"They didn't have to do that."

The couple said "a young fellow" had helped them with the internet. "We aren't rocket scientists and he spent 10 minutes helping."

Mr Cartwright is more impressed with the police than he is with the politicians.

"The police have been great - very understanding. They are just doing their job," he said.

"It's just the arrogant, bloody stupid politicians."

It is not clear when the politicians will resolve their differences - or what those differences might be.

The NSW government has now set up a special office at the Cube arts venue in Wodonga - but the travellers say that the well-meaning helpers there are helpless in the face of the political impasse.

Many in the motels are staying inside just in case there's eventually a demand to prove they haven't been near infected people.

Some seem bewildered - and with a quiet anger that seems to be burning a bit more fiercely by the day.

When they do eventually move on, Cr Speedie said they would be welcome back.

Whether the experience has burnt them too much remains to be seen.