LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
* Victoria registered 149 new cases of the virus on Wednesday. It's the third straight day the number has been below 150.
* However, the state suffered a sharp rise in coronavirus deaths with 24 new fatalities, taking the state toll to 462 and national figure to 549.
* Of Wednesday's deaths, 21 are related to aged care.
* Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is weathering a political storm over his bid to extend the state of emergency for 12 months, and will have to rely on crossbenchers to get the proposal through parliament.
* "We're having very productive discussions, as we always do, with the crossbench... We're very confident that we will be able to get an outcome," Mr Andrews said.
* In NSW, six new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday. This includes one returned traveller in hotel quarantine and five that are locally acquired with the source not yet identified.
* A Travelodge Hotel in Sydney was dumped from the quarantine program on Tuesday after an escalation in complaints about its cleanliness in the past week. All 366 people quarantined there have been relocated at other city hotels.
* NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller defended the state's hotel quarantine system in the wake of the relocation, and after two security guards tested positive to COVID-19.
* "The current system is working but if it doesn't work I am accountable for it," Mr Fuller said.
* South Australia will present its bid to stage finals matches and the grand final at Adelaide Oval to the AFL on Wednesday, and Premier Steven Marshall will speak with officials on Thursday.
* Mr Marshall says Adelaide had a number of factors working in its favour, including its strong response to COVID-19 and the ability of people from a number of other states to travel to SA.
* Queensland recorded one new case of coronavirus overnight, the 11th in the Brisbane youth detention centre cluster.
* In Canberra, Prime Minister Scott Morrison doubled down on his criticism of Victoria's handling of the coronavirus crisis, and in particular the hotel quarantine, contact tracing and virus testing under Premier Andrews.
* "We can't ignore the fact of what's happened in Victoria and I don't believe the Victorian premier is ignoring it either. That's why we're working together to deal with the consequences of what has occurred in Victoria," Mr Morrison said.
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KEY DATES
* August 2 to September 13 - stage four lockdown for Melbourne, including a nightly curfew, and stage three lockdown for regional Victoria.
* August 29 - Tentative date for the last remaining restrictions on gatherings to be removed in WA.
* September 11 - NSW government to temporarily waive the hotel quarantine fee for NSW residents returning from Victoria.
* November - Victoria's hotel quarantine inquiry report due.
* 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 156 new cases in Australia - 149 in Victoria, six in NSW and one in Queensland. There were 24 more deaths in Victoria.
* The national death toll as of Tuesday is 549: Victoria 462, 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).
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GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS
* Cases: at least 23,904,325
* Deaths: at least 819,612
* Recovered: at least 15,584,680
Data current as of 1830 AEST August 26, taking in federal government and state/territory government updates, Worldometer and Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre.
Australian Associated Press
