A commitment from the broadcasters to a 20-round season, although the financial details of the deal are yet to be finalised;

A State of Origin series that is locked in for November, with the schedule to be confirmed as early as Wednesday's innovation committee meeting;

An expected NSW government approval of an exemption to allow the Warriors to isolate in Tamworth and continue training as a team;

A meeting organised for Wednesday between the NRL and the Victorian government to allow the Storm to train out of Melbourne. The grand final was originally meant to be played at the SCG on October 4, although that has been pushed back three weeks to allow the NRL to squeeze in another 18 rounds of the regular season. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video The NRL decider has been locked in for October 25, a day after Australia's opening game of the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be played at the SCG against Pakistan on a Saturday night. If the cricket World Cup isn't postponed or cancelled, it is expected the NRL will move the premiership decider to the 30,000-seat Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta.

Regardless of where the game will be held, the NRL is hopeful restrictions will be relaxed to allow the return of crowds for the finals series and the November Origin series, even if that means having unoccupied seats between fans. "You could definitely look at having crowds that observe the social distancing rules of 1.5 metre separation," V'landys said. "That's another reason we wanted the season to run later than normal, to give ourselves and our broadcasters a chance of having crowds in time for the finals and Origin. We've also had discussions about Origin and rewarding some of our emergency workers with tickets to the game. ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys. Credit:AAP "You've got to be optimistic. But I'm also a realist and until the ball is kicked off on the 28th of May, I don’t want to count my chickens. I know something could happen overnight and the whole world changes. When that ball is kicked off, I will be happy. Not before."

The news of the NRL's 20-round season confirmation comes on the eve of Wednesday's innovation committee meeting, which will put the finishing touches on the structure of the season. The NRL still needs to work out its distribution model and is hopeful of working out the details of the broadcast deal with Nine and Fox Sports by the end of the week. It is understood the NRL is working off a minimum guarantee from its broadcasters at this stage, but the specifics of how much Nine and Foxtel will contribute is yet to be determined. That may delay the distribution model, with the Warriors indicating they would not leave New Zealand until they knew how much they were getting paid. Loading

"Both Hugh and Patrick have supported me to do the 20 rounds, and that’s all I can ask for," V'landys said. "We have to finalise a few matters but we’re getting there. The meetings have been held in good faith and good spirit. You can’t ask for more than that. In my mind I had made a decision on Friday, but I just wanted both partners to sign off on it and they did. "I have been consulting various parties since Friday ... coaches, players and had a meeting with all clubs this afternoon. They all agreed that this was the best way to go forward." V'landys was also buoyed by discussions with the Queensland government. "It was a very positive meeting, very cordial," V'landys said. "We were given time to present our case, which we were very appreciative of. Our expert advisor will now speak to the chief medical officer in Queensland to go through proposal."