Premier Daniel Andrews said 671 new coronavirus cases had been detected since yesterday and seven more people had died.
Six of the deaths have a connection to aged care.
Andrews said there was an "unacceptably high" number of community transmission cases, and the state had 760 active "mystery" COVID-19 infections where the source of the transmission was not known.
"Those mysteries, that community transmission, is in many respects our biggest challenge and the reason why we need to move to a different set of rules," he said.
