Lockdown rulebreakers fined as tighter Melbourne restrictions take effect

Up to 30 coronavirus rulebreakers have been slapped with fines in the past 24 hours following the announcement of tighter lockdown restrictions across Melbourne.

Chief Police Commissioner Shane Patton has revealed up to 14 of the fines were handed out to people busted at two illegal private gatherings last night.

Some of fine recipients were caught breaching Melbourne's curfew, which spans from 9pm to 5am, but only officially came into effect at midnight last night.

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"There were a couple of people who were apprehended for criminal offences late in the morning out at Noble Park, who will be looked at in terms of curfew breaches as well in relation to their criminal offending," Commissioner Patton said.

Victoria Police have today relaunched Operation Shielding, putting Protective Services Officers — who usually patrol the public transport network — in public areas to shut down unlawful gatherings.

Commissioner Patton said Victoria Police had been issuing numerous warnings before giving out fines.

"We give out thousands and thousands of warnings," the police chief said.

He said police had been applying discretion in circumstances where people didn't understand they were breaching restrictions.

Commissioner Patton said he was not aware of any fines that had been handed out to parents at playgrounds since using public play equipment was banned yesterday.

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He said police did not have the exact figures of how many Melburnians were being caught illegally travelling to regional Victoria, but about 2-3 travelers were being fined a day on average.

"I'm very confident that we are detecting the majority of those," he said.

Commissioner Patton has advised anyone aware of lockdown breaches to ring police on 131 444.

"Ring that number and we'll deal with it," he said.

Authorised officers can issue on-the-spot fines of up to $1,817 for adults and up to $10,904 for businesses breaching lockdown restrictions.

Those flouting mask rules face $200 fines.