A top business leader has taken aim at Jacinda Ardern and her Cabinet - they already know if Auckland will come out of level 2 this weekend, but they're not telling the public until late Friday morning.

The prime minister and top members of her Cabinet have already made their decision on a move to level 1- they met yesterday, 13 days after the last community case - but Ardern won't reveal the decision until 11.30 this morning.

Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Michael Barnett said the public and businesses should have been told promptly.

"This would have enabled businesses time to get ready to welcome customers and visitors back and make the most of having a full weekend of trade to make up for some of the crippling losses from level 3 and 2 restrictions."

And Barnett told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking this morning he couldn't work out the 11.30am timing. "If you told us yesterday there would have been more winners. So tell us why you didn't tell us yesterday.

"I can't work it out. I look at 11.30 today - it's better than four o'clock on a Friday afternoon, but the sector that's been most vocal that's been most impacted is the hospitality and the restaurant sector. Most of these guys it's been soft for them this year and it's been a disaster over the last couple of weeks so it's an opportunity for them to get started again, it's an opportunity for the government to get some return on the money invested in America's Cup, and we've got nothing until today, at 11.30."

The outcome is likely to be a shift to alert level 1 – Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said he was "optimistic" that Auckland would be at alert level 1 this weekend.