Here's what happened today:

Pubs, clubs, cinemas, nightclubs and restaurants will be closed nationwide from midday Monday, while cafes and restaurants will only be open for takeaway.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the measures would be in place for at least six months after people had not heeded warnings about social distancing.

That came after Victoria declared a state-wide shutdown of everything except essential services over the next 48 hours.

School holidays in Victoria will be brought forward to Tuesday.

NSW also introduced a similar lockdown.

The AFL season was suspended and the AFLW season cancelled.

The NRL will continue to play on.

WA and SA imposed new border restrictions.

Victoria had its largest daily increase in cases so far, with 67. The total is now 296.

The national number of cases passed 1300.

A stimulus package of $66 billion was announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

That's the end of The Age's live coverage of what has been quite a remarkable day.

Tomorrow promises to bring more dramatic developments in the coronavirus outbreak. Be sure to check in during the day, our real-time coronavirus coverage is free for all readers.

Thanks to Simone Fox Koob for taking the reins this morning, I'm sure I'll be back in the blog chair soon. See you then.