Hundreds of Australians who had been stuck overseas have arrived on a charter plane in Adelaide where they will be quarantined for two weeks and get tested for coronavirus.

Key points: 440 Australians who were stuck overseas have arrived in Adelaide this morning on a charter flight

440 Australians who were stuck overseas have arrived in Adelaide this morning on a charter flight Police and SA Health will be managing arrivals and testing for coronavirus

Police and SA Health will be managing arrivals and testing for coronavirus All the passengers will be quarantined in a city hotel for two weeks

The 374 passengers arrived on the Lion Air flight, from India via Denpasar, which landed at Adelaide Airport this morning.

SA Police and SA Health will be managing the arrival of the passengers, who have now been taken to the Pullman Hotel on Hindmarsh Square in Adelaide's CBD.

The passengers had not been able to return to Australia because of restrictions to stop the spread of coronavirus, and all will be tested for COVID-19.

South Australian Health Minister Stephen Wade said strong security measures were in place to protect the public.

"There will be a 24-hour police presence, backed up by private security forces, and nobody under quarantine will be allowed to leave the facility," Mr Wade said.

"This is very important to make sure that we don't have the risk of community transmission through the quarantine process."

Overseas travellers have arrived at the Pullman Hotel in Adelaide where they will be quarantined. ( Shuba Krishnan )

SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said many of the travellers who have arrived in Adelaide reside interstate.

"We're doing the planning now to enable them to return to their home states," the Commissioner told ABC Radio Adelaide this morning.

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He said the travellers would be required to stay in their hotel rooms, and hotel staff providing food and other essentials would be kitted out with personal protective equipment.

"People who are supplying those necessary items to the rooms including food will have the appropriate protective equipment at all times," he said.

'Escaping from a horror story'

Frederick Mack, originally from Canberra, had been living in India for 10 years and was one of those to return to Adelaide.

He said it had been a considerably stressful experience, but he was as "happy as a pig in the mud pile" to be home.

"Landing in Adelaide, it was very special, it was an emotional thing because you're coming home, it's like escaping from a bit of a horror story," he said.

Three police officers stand outside the Pullman Hotel in Adelaide. ( ABC News: Dean Faulkner )

He said it was hard to know if Indian authorities had the virus under control, but the most difficult thing was finding an airline that was actually flying, with some online bookings misleading customers.

"The problem is you had airlines taking bookings, a lot of the search engines were actually taking your money and then when you double-check, we rang the airline direct, they said 'no, the flights are not flying'," he said.

"I had to get to Chennai, I'm an eight-hour drive away and that was the second challenge.

"We ended up leaving three hours late, there were all sorts of delays.

"I was very emotional when I saw the aircraft finally dock on the bridge, I knew we were close."

He said staying in Adelaide was a much better option than being stranded overseas.

"Back in India I was cooped up in a small hotel for three weeks, I didn't step outside, so for me it's the lap of luxury, I've got a bathtub — I'll be in that every day," he said.

Hundreds more to touch down tomorrow

Another flight expected to be carrying more than 400 passengers will travel from Mumbai, pass through Jakarta and Denpasar and arrive at 8:00am on Tuesday.

A man and a child walk off the bus at the Pullman Hotel after returning to Australia. ( ABC News: Dean Faulkner )

Premier Steven Marshall said on Saturday the flights were part of a coordinated effort with other states and territories.

"All operational measures have been put in place to enforce the returning citizens' 14-day quarantine period and ultimately keep South Australia safe and strong," he said.

"We can't leave Australians stranded."

South Australia recorded no new coronavirus cases over the weekend, despite a dramatic rise in testing since an expanded regime was announced on Wednesday.

However, police issued more than three dozen fines over the weekend to people breaking coronavirus restrictions.

A total of 18 expiation notices were handed out at Penfield and another 23 at Burton to groups of people doing burnouts.

Commissioner Stevens said police had received thousands of calls to the police hotline.

"Over the course of this major emergency we had something like 1,500 calls into our call centre," he said.

"We are taking it seriously, we do follow it up and we'd encourage anyone who has concerns about the behaviour of large gatherings to give us a call."

As of Sunday afternoon, there were 81 active cases, with seven people in hospital and one patient in the intensive care unit of the Royal Adelaide Hospital in a critical condition.

"With the restrictions, especially with the border restrictions, we really have managed to get control of it," deputy chief public health officer Dr Michael Cusack said yesterday.

"But in the coming weeks, we will get a true sense of it."

Health authorities have now called for more South Australians in the 21-to-30-year-old age group to present for testing, so they can identify any asymptomatic carriers of the virus.

