Rural councils have met in person despite coronavirus driven gathering restrictions, as they wait for new legislation to come into effect.

Central Goldfields and Loddon shires conducted council meetings on Tuesday in person, but with physical distancing measures in place.

Both plan to meet online, after the Victorian government passed legislation allowing councils to do so.

The councils must also decide how to facilitate community input into their meetings.

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Loddon Shire met on Tuesday after missing its March council meeting, due to COVID-19.

Mayor Cheryl McKinnon said most councillors lived on rural properties, without line of site to a signal tower. This meant varying degrees of internet connectivity, she said.

Cr McKinnon said one councillor struggled to get even one bar of signal on his mobile phone, let alone an internet connection.

"We need to make sure all councilors have high quality connectivity so they can fully participate, because it's not a fair process if one of them is compromised," she said.

Cr McKinnon said councillors also sat on a number of committees, now convened online.

Some could phone in, but at least one councillor was driving to the Serpentine offices to participate, she said.

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The shire ran a modified council meeting on Tuesday night.

Councillors ran through all issues on the agenda in an online meeting the previous day, resolving on recommendations.

At the in-person meeting councillors then accepted or rejected the recommendation from the assembly, reducing time spent together. Staff attended via videolink.

Chief executive Phil Pinyon said the shire would see how COVID-19 requirements played out when deciding on how to convene its next meeting.

"Video conferencing is a second alternative, it's not as good as a face to face, if you can have a face to face," Mr Pinyon said.

Central Goldfields chief administrator Noel Harvey met with the shire's two other administrators on Tuesday night.

Senior staff Zoomed in to the meeting.

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Mr Harvey said it went well, but it would throw up challenges for many councils.

He named community participation and voting as two likely challenges.

Mr Harvey said he had questions about how to allow community members to make submissions to the council in person, as required by the Local Government Act.

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