Border between Victoria and New South Wales now shut

The border closure between Victoria and New South Wales came into effect overnight, as the Covid-19 cluster linked to a Melbourne restaurant rises to 10.

At the stroke of midnight, police vehicles joined the ends of queues at each border checkpoint to mark the midnight closure. Travellers were told earlier on Friday they would need to be in line before 11:59pm in order to make it home.

"At midnight, regardless of how long the queue is, we'll have a police car go to the end of that queue," Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent said earlier.

"If you are there by midnight, regardless of whether you're actually processed, you're included as arriving prior to midnight."

Travellers are no longer allowed to cross the NSW border into Victoria unless they have an exemption or a permit as a traveller from a separate state like Queensland or the ACT who solely travelled through NSW to reach Victoria.

Victorian authorities yesterday said people arriving after that time would have to enter mandatory hotel quarantine, but today clarified that was an option that would only be extended in exceptional circumstances, and most people would simply be turned back.

"We did not design the hotel quarantine system to enable people who went on holiday in NSW to come back a bit later," Victoria's Covid-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said.

Victoria outbreak rises to 10 cases

Two new cases of coronavirus have been linked to a Thai restaurant in Melbourne's Black Rock, taking the total number of cases in the cluster to 10.

A Victorian government spokesperson has told the ABC the two cases were at the restaurant on 21 December, which authorities are currently treating as the starting point of the outbreak.

The two people then travelled to Lakes Entrance on December 28 and 29, before heading onwards to Bega and Bermagui in New South Wales.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the Victorian pair dined at the Great Southern Hotel in Eden on December 30 between 5:00pm and 6:30pm, and also at Bermi's Beachside Cafe in Bermagui on December 31 between 9:00am and 10:00am.

The government spokesperson said state health authorities contacted the pair on 31 December to inform them they were close contacts.

By that time, the pair were already in line to be tested in New South Wales.

They are now back in Victoria and are being supported to isolate.