LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
* Victoria recorded its first day without a COVID-19 death since July 13, leaving the state's toll at 729 and the national figure at 816.
* The state recorded 43 new cases, dropping the 14-day average for cases in Melbourne to 52.9 and 3.6 for regional Victoria.
* Lockdown-weary regional Victorians received a dose of good news, with restrictions to be wound back from midnight on Wednesday.
* Under its move to 'step three', people will be allowed to leave their home without restriction, outdoor gathering limits will be increased to groups of 10, plus hospitality and entertainment will be allowed.
* At the hotel quarantine inquiry, it heard the Australian Defence Force was repeatedly rebuffed by Victorian authorities when it offered to provide security for quarantine hotels.
* The decision was made at a meeting chaired by Emergency Management Victoria Commissioner Andrew Crisp on March 27, with recordings from the gathering played at the inquiry.
* Prime Minister Scott Morrison is promising to drag Australians out of the coronavirus recession through a jobs-focused budget but has been warned planned welfare cuts could leave 145,000 more people unemployed.
* Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram has pushed back against growing calls to establish a federal quarantine facility for returning overseas travellers.
* South Australia is preparing to reopen to the ACT, coronavirus-free for months, but authorities are waiting for community transmission to drop in NSW before restoring that travel link.
* NSW recorded seven new cases including two linked to known clusters, three overseas travellers and a resident returning from Victoria. A possible new case at the Anglicare-run Newmarch House - where 19 residents have died from the virus - in western Sydney was cleared.
* Queensland has its third day without any community transmission, with just one new case emerging in a person who was already in hotel quarantine. SA's easing of border restrictions with the ACT is expected to place renewed pressure on the Sunshine State to follow suit.
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KEY DATES
* September 14 to September 27 - stage four lockdown for Melbourne with some changes, including curfew moving back an hour to 9pm.
* September 17 - Regional Victoria moves to its 'third step' rules allowing people to leave their homes without restriction, increasing outdoor gathering limits and re-opening shops.
* From September 28 - if average daily cases are 30-50 in metro Melbourne over the previous 14 days the city will move to the 'second step', including increased limits for public gatherings and a staged return to school for some students.
* October 26 - Tasmania's state of emergency due to expire. In Melbourne, the overnight curfew will be dropped if over the previous fortnight the average number of new cases falls below five and there are fewer than five cases from an unknown source.
* November - Victoria's hotel quarantine inquiry report due.
* From November 23 - If there are no new cases for 14 days in Melbourne the city will move to the 'last step'. That includes all retail shops opening, public gatherings of up to 50 people allowed outdoors, and up to 20 visitors at a time allowed into a home.
* December 1 - Tasmania's borders will remain shut until at least the last month of 2020.
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AUSTRALIAN CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS
* There were 51 new cases in Australia - 43 in Victoria, seven in NSW and one in Queensland.
* The national death toll is 816: Victoria 729, NSW 54, Tasmania 13, WA 9, Queensland 6, SA 4, ACT 3. (Two Queensland residents who died in NSW have been included in the official tolls of both states).
GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS
* Cases: at least 29,281,000
* Deaths: at least 928,000
* Recovered: at least 19,864,000
Data current as of 1815 AEST September 15, taking in federal government and state/territory government updates, Worldometer and Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre.
Australian Associated Press
