Auckland will drop down to alert level 1 on Wednesday night, joining the rest of New Zealand in less restrictive conditions.

Social distancing and gathering limits will be eased, while mask wearing on public transport will no longer be compulsory, but encouraged.

However, what is stopping a move to level 1 tonight is paper work not being completed by the Government in time.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson told Heather du Plessis-Allan they wanted to be safe and leave the decision to the very last minute.

"We've said all along that it would be Wednesday, we wanted to get the very very latest data to be confident.

"It's exactly what we've flagged, and it's exactly what's going to happen. I can understand people want to get there as soon as they possibly can, but we also got to take a minute to recognise that the Auckland area particularly carried a lot of burden for New Zealand, they've done really well."

Robertson affirms the planned drop is a matter of collecting the latest data, and following health advice.