Melbourne Celebrates As Sixth Lockdown Ends

After 77 days Melbourne has emerged as the worlds most locked down city, hopefully for the last time.

Roaring cheers and claps could be heard from balconies around the city at midnight, with celebratory beers flowing freely from the stroke of midnight as hospitality venues welcomed their first patrons in months.

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From Friday, people can venture out from their homes and travel anywhere within metropolitan Melbourne without requiring a valid reason.

Hospitality venues can have up to 20 patrons indoor and 50 outside to full-vaccinated people only.

David Canny from the Victorian Hotels Association said it was great to see, but it'll take a while to bounce back.

"It’s going to be a bit of frustration there for a lot of our customers who aren't going to be able to get into the venues they want to go and visit," he said.

"We just hope the government makes an early announcement about going to the 80 per cent vaccination level by next weekend and go to the next step which is 150 people inside"

"We are just looking for restrictions to get eased completely, so that we can get back to some sort of normality," Mr Canny remarked.

Meanwhile, lord mayor Sally Capp believes everyone deserves to celebrate making it through this tough time.

"This is a momentous day. Victoria, we did it. I am so proud and so excited," she beamed. 

"I know these are cautious steps forward, but they do give us confidence that we are not only opening today, we are going to stay open".

- Cr Sally Capp

If you need a reminder, the city's new freedoms include: 

• Home visitors - 10 people, including dependents, can visit a home each day
• Outdoor gatherings - 15 people can gather
• Pubs, clubs, and entertainment venues - 20 double-dosed indoors and 50 fully vaccinated people outdoors
• Funerals and weddings - 20 fully vaccinated people indoors and 50 fully vaccinated outdoors
• Students - return to school at least part-time
• Hairdressing and beauty salons - five fully vaxxed people at any one time

Victorians are still being asked to remain vigilant about practices like wearing masks and social distancing

Further restrictions are set to ease when Victoria reaches 80 per cent double dose targets in early November.

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