However, staff at regional councils, including in the Ballarat region, have been left confused about how the permit system will work, as their customer service lines have been inundated with calls from Melburnians seeking permits this week.

The confusion stemmed from Premier Daniel Andrews' announcement on Sunday about how permission would be granted.

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He said the permit system would involve councils issuing fire prevention notices to Melburnians, which would allow them to travel to the regions.

FPNs, as they are known, are stern, legally-binding letters issued to property owners who haven't cleaned up their properties - issued before the fire season is set to begin.

Allowing Melburnians to travel to their regional properties, is intended to be a more proactive process before it reaches that stage and will instead see councils granting written permission to those eligible.

With more than 30 per cent of ratepayers in Hepburn Shire non-permanent residents, the council's customer service team received more than 150 calls seeking approval to travel to the shire on Monday.

Hepburn Shire Council chief executive, Evan King, said council staff had worked through Monday to determine its own system for how approvals would be granted.

An electronic form will be posted to the council website, which Melburnians will be able to download and fill in to seek approval to undertake property preparation works.

If approved, the property owner will be issued with a letter granting permission for them to undertake works for a period of no longer than 72 hours.

The council will collect information about who is granted permission and when they will be in the shire, for contact tracing purposes.

With so much demand, Mr King asked people to be patient and said council staff would work through the applications and try to issue approvals for valid requests as quickly as possible.

Property owners must abide by the same restrictions as apply to them in Melbourne - that means no going out for meals or having friends over for a drink.

"I don't want anyone thinking this is some kind of leave pass for Melbourne-based ratepayers to come up and have a holiday in the shire," Mr King said.

"It is absolutely only to do any fire, flood or hazard reduction works."

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With the potential for flooding as a result of forecast heavy rains in coming weeks and also being a shire with high risk of bushfire, Mr King said the initiative was positive, as it was allowing property owners who had not visited their properties for quite some time to undertake important preparation works.

"We want people to clean their properties up before the bushfire season and because people haven't been able to get to their properties for some time now, they may be more overgrown than they would normally be at this time of year," he said, adding that with rain forecast to continue in coming weeks, it would also create new growth.

But he asked anyone who would be travelling to conduct works at their property to "respect the local community and the fact that there is no COVID-19 in the shire".

"Come up, do the work and then go home. We appreciate that you're getting your property ready for the fire season, but it's not an opportunity to go out and have a meal yet," he said.

"That will happen at some point in time, when it's safe to do so, but it's not at the moment."

In recent months, the council and Victoria Police officers have visited businesses across the shire to speak to them about their requirements.

Mr King said the council would continue with this work, to ensure that businesses are well aware of the rules - including checking the addresses of patrons.

"The last thing businesses need is a big fine in what is a challenging economic environment, so we will continue with that messaging," he said.

Meanwhile surrounding councils are continuing to await further advice before issuing permits.

A Golden Plains Shire Council spokesperson said that along with other councils, it was seeking further guidance from the state government about how the permit system would operate and would provide more information later in the week.

"In the meantime, Melbourne residents who need to undertake fire or flood prevention works on their property in Golden Plains Shire are encouraged to engage a contractor to complete the works," they said.

A City of Ballarat spokesperson, meanwhile, said the council "looked forward" to further advice from other agencies before it started issuing permits.

While applauding the move to allow people to undertake this work ahead of the fire season, police Superintendent Jenny Wilson appealed to people to adhere to the instructions.

With continuing operation sentinel shifts every day and night, Superintendent Wilson said anyone flouting restrictions or in an area they were not supposed to be ran the risk of randomly being pulled over and checked.

"I'd also appeal to retailers and cafes that if you become aware that someone is where they shouldn't be, you can always withdraw service. And if there are breaches that you want to report then call the Police Assistance Line."

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