Attendance of up to 30,000 a day approved for Melbourne’s Australian Open

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer has given approval for between 25,000 to 30,000 people a day to attend the Australian Open in Melbourne next month.

Minister for Sport Martin Pakula today announced that the event’s COVID-safe plan would allow a daily crowd capacity of 30,000 for first eight days of the tournament and then 25,000 per day from the start of the quarter-finals — about half the average attendance in recent years.

The State Government said “rigorous” infection control and prevention measures would be enforced.

Nearly 1,000 Australian Open players and officials have undertaken hotel quarantine over the past fortnight, with the last to be released on Sunday.

More to come.