Huon Hill and Elgins are among several venues in the city to partner with Victoria's Australian Hotels Association group for the 'We are COVIDSafe to open' campaign, urging the state government to loosen the shackles preventing pubs from operating.

"It's absolutely devastating. I think it's been five weeks today we've been closed and just before we closed the momentum was coming back," Huon Hill general manager Veronica Parker said.

"Even though we could only have 20 people per space, we could still do over 100 meals in one evening.

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"(Victorian Premier) Daniel Andrews said if the average got under five (regional COVID-19 cases) he would look at regional Victoria, but he's not giving us any guidance as to when we can open and it's really frustrating.

"Our owner Bill (Perry) has actually got another pub in Richmond that's closed as well and two other businesses basically closed as well, so it's very disheartening."

Mr Andrews' primary concern in opening up regional Victoria early is the risk it will provide to the community if people start to travel from higher-risk areas to places with less restrictions.

But Mrs Parker is prepared.

"We were checking IDs and not letting anyone in from Melbourne. We had our COVID safe plan and people were amazed how much we were cleaning when they left," she said.

"We turned heaps of people away from Melbourne and I'm quite happy to do that again."

Elgins manager Rhys Torpy believes the safety of pubs as a place to socially interact has been overlooked.

"If people are allowed to have a barbecue in their backyard, you can't really tell how many people are there and whether distancing is being adhered to," he said.

"In hospitality we've been dealing with cleanliness and we've got health and safety regulations we have to adhere to day to day anyway, so it's very easy for us to provide a safe and clean space.

"You walk into a supermarket now and every second person is not bothering to sanitise, the queues are all bunched up. It's sort of slackened off a bit in those areas."

Restrictions could be eased on regional Victorian pubs on September 28, but Mrs Parker and Mr Torpy said it still may not be viable if restricted to outdoor dining.

"If they let us reopen, they have to be realistic with the restrictions. Previously running 20 per room worked well, so let's hope it goes that way again," Mr Torpy added.

AHA Victoria president David Canny believes pubs and hotels will "bleed further with debt and face going over the cliff" if they cannot reopen soon.