But what will the world of work look like in 2021?

Ballarat coworking spaces Platypus and Runway have seen an increased number of people enquiring about sharing a work space.

Managers of both spaces say coworking offered the best elements of working local for those who did not enjoy working from home.

"People want that middle ground between big commutes and being at home where there is the laundry, the fridge and the TV," Runway Ballarat general manager Nichola Sleight said.

"Everyone is renegotiating how they want to work."

Ms Sleight said she had spoken to many employees who would usually commute to Melbourne for work but realised they could now work in Ballarat full-time or a few days a week.

"They see now they can stay in Ballarat where there is housing affordability and they can be more involved in family life," she said.

"We have also found businesses don't want to be paying massive overheads for big offices that no one uses anymore."

Ms Sleight said she had also seen an increase in the number of people who wanted to start a business.

"Coworking appeals because you are working alongside people so you get community and support and conversation without all the hard stuff," she said.

"People are craving that sense of community and that is what coworking allows them to do."

Platypus Ballarat founder Samantha Davies said she had many new tenants at Platypus who had moved to Ballarat or no longer wanted to work from home.

"I think a lot of people are reassessing how they want to work, especially those who have been commuting for a long period of time and now they have had a long period of not having to commute," she said.

"There are other options for them if working from home doesn't work and they don't want to get back on the train full-time.

"There is a lot of research that commuters usually shop where they work, so working from a local co-working space they get to spend their money in their local economy and that is beneficial to Ballarat."

Sarah Currie started running her business Bridge and Tunnel Accounts from Platypus in September after moving from Melbourne to Ballarat.

Ms Currie and her partner decided to move to Ballarat after feeling restless in Melbourne and their plans to live and work remotely in Mexico were cancelled due to COVID-19.

"Platypus has allowed me to seamlessly continue my business operations without any kind of disruption," she said.

"When we moved into our house we had to do a bit of renovation so it was perfect to be able to not be forced into working from home in an environment I didn't want to be in."

Ms Currie said she was glad COVID had forced people into a more adaptive work environment.

"I hope this has forced employers to allow a little bit more flexibility for their employees that they are able to work remotely. It is important for work life balance," she said.

Owner of Blades urban design and town planning business Brodie Blades started working from Runway in April.

He was previously working for a consultancy in Melbourne, living there during the week and travelling to his house in Ballarat for weekends. He has lived and worked in Ballarat full time since starting his business.

"When you are starting out a small business you have to be everything: an accountant, do your IT, your branding," Mr Blades said.

"The benefit of being at Runway is meeting other people in the same position. You can share ideas and get support. It is really easy to come to a place like this and launch your business."

The majority of Mr Blades' clients are in Melbourne, but he said living in Ballarat was attractive with the technology to meet with clients via Zoom and other video call platforms.

"Geography sort of comes out of the equation," he said.

"You can have the lifestyle of Ballarat but have the Melbourne clients because of the technology. I don't think we were fully aware of that until this year when suddenly we were all working from home."