* Victoria has announced 59 new deaths, with 50 occurring in July and August, but were only reported on Friday. There have now been 737 deaths from coronavirus across the country.

* Victoria recorded 81 new cases on Friday, down from 113 the previous day.

* The state's Treasurer Tim Pallas announced the ban on evictions and rental hikes would be extended until March 28 next year because of the economic impact of the virus.

* Meanwhile in NSW, another eight cases were recorded, forcing another Sydney school to shut.

* NSW Health also announced they could not revise advice against visiting Sydney, Blue Mountains or Central Coast aged care homes in time for Fathers Day on Sunday.

* All states and territories except Western Australia agreed at national cabinet on Friday to aim to lift their hard border closures by Christmas.

* The national cabinet also agreed to relax the weekly limit on stranded Australians returning home from overseas, and all jurisdictions bar Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania signed onto an agricultural code to allow seasonal workers to cross state lines.

* WA Premier Mark McGowan says the elimination of COVID-19 community transmission in the eastern states remains the benchmark for lifting Western Australia's hard border.

* Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been forced to defend extending special quarantine conditions to the AFL executives, after two AFL players were caught breaking COVID-19 restrictions.

* South Australia's COVID-19 border restrictions with NSW and the ACT could be lifted in time for the upcoming school holidays, Premier Steven Marshall says.

* SA has moved to lift some local coronavirus restrictions, with the number of people allowed at weddings and funerals to increase from 100 to 150 from Saturday. Pubs and restaurants will also be free to serve food and drink to people seated at bars, while the general advice to all people to work from home where possible has been dropped.

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SPORT

* Richmond players Sydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones have been banned for 10 games and their club fined $100,000 by the AFL for breaking coronavirus protocols.

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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.

* September 4 - the buffer zone at the Victorian/NSW border will expand from 2.5km to 50km.

* October 26 - Tasmania's state of emergency is due to expire.

* 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 89 new cases in Australia - 81 in Victoria and eight in NSW. There were 59 more deaths announced in Victoria, but only six were from the 24 hours before.

* The national death toll as of Thursday is 737: Victoria 650, 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 26,476,000

* Deaths: at least 873,000

* Recovered: at least 18,666,000

Data current as of 1900 AEST September 4, taking in federal government and state/territory government updates, Worldometer and Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre.

Australian Associated Press