The latest Crime Statistics Agency data, released on Thursday, reveals there were 265 fines issued in Ballarat in the year ending June 2021.

There were 32,549 fines issued across the state and when calculated per 100,000 population it shows Ballarat was well below the average of 487.

There were 290 breaches when adding in Pyrenees to represent the Ballarat police service area, compared to 84 until June 2020.

Meanwhile, the data also reveals that 364 offences were recorded in the Moorabool police service area - which includes Moorabool, Hepburn and Golden Plains - compared to 75 at the same time last year.

Acting Superintendent Paul Bertoncello said the single biggest offence category in the Moorabool area was public health breaches, but this was not surprising as it was where the ring of steel was set up for much of last year.

"It isn't a surprise when you think about the nature of restrictions. We had the ring of steel and that connection between metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria happens at that area between Melton and Bacchus Marsh," he said.

He added the police focus on public health breaches - through the ring of steel, proactive and targeted patrols - had been at that end of the division.

The number of breaches are recorded in the area they occurred and the infringement was issued, rather than where the person concerned lives.

Though the number of recorded breaches was relatively low, he said there were people who were issued infringement notices at the ring of steel or who were found to be in the division unlawfully.

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Yet there have also been incidents of people living in the division breaking the rules and gathering despite social restrictions.

"We are clearly relying on the community across the whole of Victoria to work with us and make sure the CHO directions are followed, but there have clearly been some people who haven't."

COVID response commander, Jeroen Weimar, on Thursday said fatigue had caused people to drop their guard and it had directly translated into a massive jump in cases.

"The contact tracers tell us that there have been significant numbers of social gatherings on Friday and Saturday, over a long weekend. Grand final parties... and other social gatherings. This has generated significant case load.

"A third of our cases are due directly to those different types of social gatherings... And that has now translated into additional 500 cases from what we expected to see today."

Ballarat recorded one new case on Thursday, bringing the total to 16 active cases in the city.

Earlier this week Ballarat police told The Courier they were generally pleased with the community's behaviour over the long weekend.

However, The Courier understands it comes after one group of Year 12 students experienced a scare after gathering for a Grand Final party at the weekend.

One of the students is believed to have returned a false positive COVID test that compelled all the attendees to get tested. However, the initially positive case was later cleared.

Acting Superintendent Bertoncello said the number data was reflective of the way policing had changed since the onset of the pandemic.

"It has been a really challenging time for everybody, including us. We have been getting our heads around what community safety looks like in the time of COVID and it has changed what we are policing, how we are policing and the protective processes we follow when we are dealing with people.

"We have QR codes just to go to work like everyone else. It's fundamentally changed how many people we have to do the different types of policing we have."

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