PREMIER Daniel Andrews has again urged residents in Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong to come forward and get tested for even the mildest of symptoms.

There are 484 cases of COVID-19 in regional Victoria, down from a peak of 512.

Mr Andrews said cases in regional Victoria were relatively stable, but there had been some growth in those bigger cities.

There are 3383 mystery cases - COVID infections with an unknown source - statewide. Mystery cases rose by 264 in 24 hours.

The premier said the increase in mystery cases was the product of multiple days of work being recorded.

Victoria's Chief Health Officer, Professor Brett Sutton said the state was seeing the fruits of a very difficult period of restrictions.

Active cases were seemed to have stabilised, new outbreaks were in single figures, new cases were trending down, and Professor Sutton said they should continue to trend down.

He said there was no room for complacency, and cases in aged care and health care workers were still much too high.

"But I do think it's important people understand the actions they have taken, especially in recent weeks, are showing up in our numbers now," Professor Sutton said.

"People should have hope and confidence the things we know work are now manifesting in our daily counts."

He said the effective virus reproduction number was almost certainly below one.

Professor Sutton believed it could drop to 0.4 or 0.5 if everyone did the right thing.

"That's where it probably headed to in April when we were in another very substantial lockdown and we saw the numbers drop very dramatically," he said.

"If we can get to an effective reproduction number at a similar level, we should see a similar reduction over time, so that is encouraging."

The premier said he was hopeful, but the fight was far from over.

"I think we're seeing the best of Victorians at the moment," Mr Andrews said.

"We are going to beat this thing, but we have to do it together.

"Just one bad choice can lead to one infection, that then can potentially mean hundreds of people get this virus, and that many of those potentially finish up gravely ill in hospital."

He said it was too early to predict when the current restrictions would lift, in his judgement.

"It's literally one day at a time, everyone doing the right thing," Mr Andrews said.

"We've got to do this right, otherwise if we let our frustration get the better of us and we kind of pretend the second wave is over when it really isn't and open up when there's too many cases out there, then all we're really doing is kicking off a third wave, and potentially a fourth.

"That's not what we want to do. We need to defeat this as best we can. That's not easy, but it will be much more likely if we all keep making good decisions and if we just let our inherent strength shine."

Earlier

FOUR people have died and 303 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Victoria in the past 24 hours.

It comes after the pandemic claimed its youngest Australian victim, with a man in his 20s among the 14 people who died in the 24 hours to Friday.

Central Victoria recorded 10 of the 372 new cases recorded in that timeframe.

Further information about today's data is expected to be released as the day unfolds.

Premier Daniel Andrews yesterday said COVID-19 cases in Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong remained a concern.

But an escalation in restrictions was not yet required.

The premier urged regional Victorians to "stay the course" with the existing stage three restrictions.

"I know it is tough and challenging but even with low numbers, we need vigilance to keep them low and drive them down further," Mr Andrews said.

Bendigo mayor Margaret O'Rourke called on the government to release suburb-level data about confirmed cases.

The premier said he would call the mayor if required, after being asked to respond to her comments at Friday's press conference.

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