Supermarkets in parts of Australia are set to stay open for 24 hours a day amid the coronavirus panic-buying frenzy.

Many people have been left unable to buy essential items as crowds of shoppers have frantically stripped shelves bare.

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall announced that shops in the state will be able to stay open around the clock for 30 days during weekdays.

The deregulated shopping hours will begin on Monday, March 23.

General view outside a Woolworths in Sunbury as people wait outside on Tuesday

Under the new regulations shops in South Australia will be open all day from Monday to Friday, and will then be able to open from 12am to 9pm on Saturday and from 9am to 9pm on Sunday.

South Australia Treasurer Rob Lucas said shops wouldn't be forced to open but he thought many business owners would extend their opening hours as the rules are relaxed.

'The Government has been horrified by some of the scenes we have seen in the last couple of weeks. We hope this will reduce some of that mayhem,' he told The Advertiser.

Mr Marshall said the relaxing of opening hours was designed to keep the 'community protected'.

Footage emerged on Tuesday of a Coles customer (right) allegedly abused a female employee (left) over he supermarket's toilet paper policy

The move to protect elderly and disabled shoppers from the panic-buying chaos comes after numerous confrontations between customers. Two women were charged over this recent incident at a Woolworths in Chullora in Sydney's south-west

This will give traders the opportunity to spread their customer load over a longer number of hours... we also anticipate this will help with jobs with more people needed to stock shelves,' he said.

Trading regulations for Easter in South Australia will remain.

Meanwhile, supermarkets have been forced to ramp up their security measures as coronavirus panic-buying reaches a fever pitch across the country.

Police have been called to supervise long queues at grocery stores as shoppers rush to get their hands on what's left on the shelves amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hysteria surrounding the deadly outbreak has seen shoppers break into fights over toilet paper and other goods at supermarket chains in recent days.

Footage emerged on Wednesday of authorities standing guard as long lines formed outside a Coles at Broadway Shopping Centre, in Sydney's inner-west.

In Western Australia, police officers were seen patrolling the aisles as the customers rushed in to stock up on groceries.

A NSW Police spokesperson said officers are helping monitor the queues due to a large influx of customers and will be present where needed.

Coles also confirmed it has increased its security measures in a bid to control chaos at its stores which have been overrun with customers clearing out shelves daily.

'Coles team members and suppliers have been working as hard as possible delivering more products to stores every day and stocking shelves as quickly as possible,' they said in a statement on Wednesday.

'We are constantly reviewing security measures to manage the unprecedented levels of customer demand in our stores and have increased the presence of security in our stores nationally.'

Woolworths has followed suit by doubling their security presence across the store network in the last couple of weeks.

'We're working closely with our security contractors to extend coverage even further,' a spokesperson said.

Coles joined Woolworths, Aldi and IGA in a desperate plea to customers to be more considerate of workers during the stockpiling frenzy.

The call made in newspaper advertisements across the country followed a series of incidents of customers verbally attacking retail staff.

On Tuesday, shocking footage emerged of a shopper in a confrontation with a Coles worker during a heated dispute over toilet paper rationing.