Daniel Andrews has threatened to impose stage four restrictions on Victoria after the state recorded 177 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours.

“I can’t rule out we have further limits placed on people’s movement. I can’t rule that out,” he said. “As I always said, if we’re planning for it, we’ll share it with the community. That’s in the hands of hard working Victorians.”

In NSW, eight new cases have been linked to a pub outbreak in Sydney and another pub has closed over links to the cluster.

Some 13 coronavirus cases have now been linked to the Crossroads Hotel, in Sydney’s Casula. The Picton Hotel has also closed after one of those in the new cluster went to the pokies over three days.

It is understood the 13 defence force members visited the Crossroads Hotel while infected people were there. The group stopped at the pub on their way to Albury-Wodonga border.  It is understood they also visited a fast food restaurant on their journey.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has said NSW Health is “getting very close” to identifying the source at the heart of the growing Sydney pub cluster.

Mr Hunt refused to speculate on whether the cluster could be linked to Victoria’s worsening COVID-19 situation – where Premier Daniel Andrews announced another 273 infections yesterday after a shocking week of record rises in cases. 

Victoria's chief health officer Brett Sutton says he is optimistic about today's new case numbers, but the state may not yet have hit its peak.

"It's great it's (today's figures) lower than our peak," he said. "But it may not be our peak yet.

"So I would like to see a week of decreasing numbers before I come and say I have greater confident about the direction we're going in.

"As a reflection of the actions that people took a week or to ago, it's probably a good sign this is exactly what happens when people are following the stay at home directions.

"Isolating and testing appropriately, and minimising their contact with others.

"This is exactly what we'll see as people do the right thing and it will continue to drive down if those behaviours are sustained. So that's a small bit of optimism in today's numbers."