To many Victorians, Premier Daniel Andrews has painted a bleak picture of what Christmas could look like if the epidemic is not kept under control.
Speaking at the press conference on Saturday, Mr Andrews said his aim is to drive down numbers so that people can spend Christmas dinner with their families.
Yet if the cases didn’t drop, he warned that others would plann funerals instead.
“What I want to do is make sure there are as many people at Christmas dinner as possible,” he said.
“Unless we get these numbers down we are going to continue to have to be asking families to plan funerals. That’s not acceptable.
“We need to get these numbers down. That part of the year, every part of this year, is going to look different. Until we get the vaccine this is going to be part of our lives.”
Mr Andrews said the aim wasn‘t to go back to normal, but to reach a “COVID normal”.
“The numbers are too high, we have to drive them down, the only way to do that is drive down movement and that is why I am so grateful to everybody who is doing the right thing,” he said.
“To those who are not, make better choices or you will be fined”.