Stranded Victorians fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be allowed to return home from Greater Sydney within a week.
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Premier Daniel Andrews said anyone in NSW who has had both doses and returned a negative coronavirus test within 72 hours of returning could apply to come back from September 30.
Victorians had been banned from coming home from NSW unless they had an exemption or another valid permit.
Several thousand are expected to return home, but must test negative 72 hours before departure, isolate at home for 14 days and get tested at the start and end of quarantine.
Authorised officers will do spot checks on returnees to ensure they abide by the rules.
The move comes as the state recorded its highest-ever daily COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to Thursday, with 766 new infections.
Four people died, including three people from the Hume area and one from Moreland, bringing the latest outbreak's death toll to 20.
There are now 257 people in hospital with COVID-19, 60 of whom are in intensive care, including 41 on a ventilator.
More than three-quarters of Victorians aged over 16, or 75.2 per cent, have had at least one dose of a vaccine, with 45.6 per cent of those eligible now fully vaccinated.
Mr Andrews said the state was "currently rationing" Pfizer doses and there was not enough stock to bring the time between doses forward, but there was plenty of AstraZeneca and now Moderna.
Meanwhile, Melbourne is bracing for a fourth day of demonstrations, as police say fewer participants are tradies angered by mandatory COVID-19 vaccines or the construction industry shutdown.
A mob of 400 to 600 again swarmed the Victorian capital on Wednesday, despite stay-at-home orders and repeated warnings from authorities.
Chanting "every day" from the Shrine of Remembrance, hundreds without masks, some still wearing high-visibility clothing, marched through the city to the war memorial.
Riot squad members appeared to fire tear gas, rubber bullets and other non-lethal rounds when rioters became increasingly hostile and refused to leave, with two officers injured and 215 arrests.
Media organisations have been granted permission to fly over the Melbourne CBD after a ban was issued by the Civil Aviation and Safety Authority on Wednesday, at the request of Victoria Police.
After complaints, organisations were told news helicopters could fly with the approval of police air wing and on the condition that any vision was broadcast with a 60 minute delay.
Federal Court Justice Helen Rofe said there were serious questions to be determined at a trial next week.
Will Houghton QC, representing networks Seven and Nine and the ABC, argued Victoria Police had no power grant approvals for helicopters to use airspace over Melbourne, nor to demand news not be shared live.
The mob's protest at the Shrine of Remembrance attracted criticism from veterans and politicians.
RSL Victoria said it had disrespected the sanctity of the sacred site, while the shrine's chief executive said people had urinated on the memorial's walls.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemned the gathering at the shrine, telling reporters in Washington "the conduct was disgraceful".
The protests initially began in opposition to mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for the construction sector and the closure of building site tea rooms, but have since turned into wider unrest.
Police took a more aggressive approach to the mob after they wreaked havoc on the West Gate Freeway on Tuesday.
Australian Associated Press
