To see how well the region has taken to the new restrictions, The Courier took to the streets to see just how many people were doing the right (or wrong) thing.

Over a few hours, members of The Courier staff travelled around some of the business areas in Ballarat and witnessed the vast majority of people wearing masks.

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Staff spent time at Delacombe Town Centre, Stockland Wendouree, Central Square and the Bridge Mall and only saw a handful of people without a face covering of some sort.

DTC manager Garrath Holdstock said he has been pleased with what he had seen within the community so far.

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"I haven't seen anyone not wearing a mask yet today, which has been great," he said.

"Pleasingly, I noticed a lot of shoppers at DTC were wearing masks before they had to."

Mr Holdstock added DTC would be enforcing the new mask restrictions by asking people to leave if they enter the shopping centre without a legitimate reason for not wearing a mask.

"We've got signage up on all the doors today and we've met with our security team," he confirmed.

"We'll be enforcing it diplomatically, obviously there are many exemptions that people can qualify for... but if they don't suit one of the exemptions and are being difficult, we'll be asking them to leave."

These sentiments where echoed by a Stockland Wendouree spokesperson.

"We're pleased to see that the majority of customers attending Stockland Wendouree are complying with Victorian Government directives in wearing a face mask while at the centre, which is a condition of entry," they said.

"We will continue to take reasonable steps to encourage people to wear a face covering whilst in our centre, and have recently increased signage and public address announcements in line with this approach.

"We also recognise that there are a number of exemptions to the mandatory wearing of face covering."

While the vast majority of people The Courier observed today were wearing a face covering, some were wearing it incorrectly. Face coverings must cover both the nose and mouth.

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