Border leaders have blasted the Victorian government over a lack of clear information on red zone impacts.
Service Victoria told Albury residents they could travel to Melbourne without a permit but should "stay within the Victorian cross border area at all times".
This left confusion about the need to be exempted to travel beyond the bubble for essential purposes such as medical care.
Benambra MP Bill Tilley said 14 hours into new restrictions, confusion left potential "to turn law-abiding citizens into criminals".
"A person contacted the COVID hotline and was told that until the website was updated, and the health orders signed that there was nothing to stop them going to Melbourne," he said.
"They have been warning about this since Friday - three days before the Border shutdown and yet there was no pre-planning for the health orders and the website is still showing information that I believe is out of date."
Albury Mayor Kevin Mack also believed the information online wasn't updated.
"It's just (adding) a timestamp, and it's just changing the information that currently sits on the website - information is key," he said.
"People who need to be in Melbourne for essential appointments or purposes need to understand what the restrictions are.
"Yet again, we've got no clear guidance."
Wodonga Mayor Kevin Poulton said the set-up was "a bit more measured" than January's closure but "you may question where the checkpoint is down the freeway".
"We're feeling pretty secure as a city at the moment," he said.
"We can go as far south as Bendigo, which is a fairly generous thing.
"Still, it's that anxiety in our community.
"In the next day or two, a lot of businesses will be quieter on either side of the river."
Cr Poulton noted the shoulder of the causeway had been sealed, potentially indicating checkpoints will stay.
Cr Mack is concerned the bubble will shrink "closer and closer" to the border as numbers increase in NSW.
"As for a lockdown in NSW, I think that's a little bit premature, I don't think regional New South Wales has done anything wrong," he said.
"I think Sydney should be considering their full lockdown and they should be considering roadblocks around Sydney.
"That probably might have given the Victorian government and Queensland a little bit more comfort.
"As Stealers Wheel said, 'Here I am, Clown's to the left of me, Joker's to the right, I'm stuck in the middle'.
"That's what we're doing and let's keep doing it."
Cr Mack said Albury Council was encouraging all the business owners impacted to send in information.
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"We need to build up an anecdotal file so we can provide that to the state and federal authorities, outlining what the impacts are," he said.
"We've just come off an anniversary of 143 days of this garbage and now we're back into it less than a week later.
"There's been a half-a-billion dollar hit to tourism in Albury-Wodonga alone.
"People's patience is wearing thin."
