Nearly 1,000 sites across the nation have been chosen for the 2017 release of a new virus that kills pest rabbits.

The Korean strain of the calicivirus, called RHDV-K5, is expected to be released in March.

Landholders keen to get in on the first death sweep were invited to lodge an expression of interest in receiving a free vial.

NSW Department of Primary Industries and project leader for the RHD Boost Project, Tarnya Cox, said successful applicants would need to commit to a monitoring program.

"Expressions of interest closed at the end of May and we received over 700 expressions of interest, which accompanied nearly 1,000 different release sites," she said.

"All of them will be doing a count of their rabbits before they release the virus, then they'll be undertaking the release and then collecting dead rabbits that they find."

Ms Cox said farmers would then upload the data via an app.

"[They'll use] Rabbitscan to record that information and then do another count one month after the release to let us know what happened to their population," she said.

A rabbit warren on the banks of Tenthill Creek, which has more than 200 warrens. ( ABC News: Matt Watson )

But counting rabbits can be tricky, even for the experienced.

"I'd say in far west New South Wales, given the property sizes, they'll probably do a count from the back of their vehicle," Ms Cox said.

"A lot of them will be familiar with spotlighting for shooting pest animals.

"It's basically either walk or drive, depending on how far you want to spotlight. Sweeping a light from left to right in a 180 degree arc and counting the rabbits you see in that sweep."

Ms Cox said rabbits would be tempted to consume contaminated carrots to kickstart the spread of the virus.

"Because the concentrated virus is a restricted chemical product, only authorised officers can access the concentrate," she said.

"It'll be mixed on to carrot bait by Local Land Services officers, then it can be given to landholders and they can go and release it.

"All they need to do is put carrots out in places where rabbits feed, then the rabbits will come and eat the carrot and then trigger an outbreak."

Contaminated carrots laced with RHDV-K5 virus will be used to spread the deadly rabbit disease.

Ms Cox said the effectiveness of the RHDV-K5 virus would depend on other factors.

"We're not expecting 1995, when the first calicivirus escaped and we saw 98 to 99 per cent population reduction," she said.

"It could be anywhere from zero to 50 per cent. It really depends on the disease profile of the rabbits in your area."

Ms Cox said K5 was selected because it could overcome the protective effects of a benign virus rabbits carried.

"That benign virus occurs in cool wet regions of the country, so we're expecting to see improved knock down in those areas," she said.

"In a place like far west New South Wales, where it's quite dry and we know there's no benign virus there, we're expecting to see equivalent or improved knock down.

"We will see an improvement but we don't know how much that is, and part of this process is to measure that."