States are ramping up coronavirus testing and strict border controls as governments desperately try to stop Melbourne's outbreak infecting the nation.
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Victoria recorded 134 of the nation's 147 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the state's second worst rise after almost 200 people were diagnosed with the disease on Tuesday.
South Australia will force all returning residents to be tested for the disease within 24 hours and then again after 12 days.
All people who have spent time in Victoria will be asked to come forward and get checked regardless of whether they have symptoms.
Queensland will fine people who have travelled from interstate, including residents, and refuse to get tested.
Victorians will be turned around at the border rather than given the chance to go into quarantine at their own expense.
Tasmania has extended a state of emergency due to end on Thursday until the end of August because of the Melbourne outbreak.
Victoria has been isolated from other states with military policing at the NSW and SA borders.
International flights are also set to be capped to ease the burden on the hotel quarantine system.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will discuss overseas arrivals with state and territory leaders on Friday.
"I'll be taking a proposal to national cabinet to slow that down," Mr Morrison said.
Flights into Melbourne have stopped as infections rise. Other capital cities are struggling to cope with rising numbers of passengers, who must spend two weeks in hotel isolation.
The nation's chief medical officers have been asked to investigate the hotel quarantine system after major failures in Melbourne fanned dozens of new infections.
"What the national cabinet is doing is reviewing the total numbers to make sure the procedures are safe," Health Minister Greg Hunt told the ABC.
"Seven out of eight states and territories have done an extraordinary job.
"Then that (review) will moderate the number of total flights and therefore the number of people that come into Australia."
More than 72,000 international passengers arrived in Australia in the month to July 7, with more than half landing in NSW.
There were 39,394 arrivals in NSW, 15,374 in Victoria, 10,054 in Queensland, 5377 in Western Australia, 962 in the Northern Territory, 683 in South Australia and 307 in the ACT.
Millions of Melburnians and residents of Mitchell Shire to the city's north returned to strict stay-at-home orders overnight after another day of triple-figure coronavirus infections.
School students in those areas will receive daily temperature checks as a precautionary measure from term three.
Australian Associated Press
