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British singer Ed Sheeran says baseless copyright claims are damaging the music industry after he won a case at the High Court in London over whether a refrain in his 2017 mega hit "Shape Of You" had been lifted from another artist.

Sheeran had been involved in a legal battle with grime artist Sami Chokri, who performs as Sami Switch, and music producer Ross O'Donoghue, who had argued the hook from "Shape of You" had been copied from their 2015 song "Oh Why".

"Whilst we're obviously happy with the result I feel like claims like this are way too common now and it's become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking them to court, even if there's no basis for the claim," Sheeran said in a video posted on Twitter on Wednesday.

"It's really damaging to the songwriting industry."

"Shape Of You" became the best-selling digital song worldwide in 2017 and has received more than 5.6 billion views on YouTube.

The judge, Antony Zacaroli, concluded there was no evidence that Sheeran had thought of writing the hit before October 2016.

"While there are similarities between the OW (Oh Why) Hook and the OI (Oh I) Phrase, there are also significant differences," the judge concluded.

"I am satisfied that Mr Sheeran did not subconsciously copy Oh Why in creating Shape."

Sheeran had faced lengthy questioning about his work during last month's trial, with accusations from the lawyer for Chokri and O'Donoghue that he simply altered other artists' music and words to pass their work off as his own.

The singer said he always credited other artists and told the court he had never heard the "Oh Why" song he was accused of ripping off.

"There's only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music, coincidence is bound to happen," Sheeran said on Wednesday.

"I just want to say: I'm not an entity, I'm not a corporation, I'm a human being and a father and a husband and a son. Lawsuits are not a pleasant experience and I hope that this ruling means in the future baseless claims like this can be avoided."

© RAW 2022

Victoria's pandemic declaration has been extended for three months amid rising COVID-19 cases across the state.

In a government statement released on Wednesday night, Premier Daniel Andrews said he was satisfied COVID-19 still posed a serious risk to public health.

The extension will start from 11.59pm on April 12 and last through to July 12.

"This extension enables us to keep modest and sensible settings in place to reduce transmission and hospitalisation," Mr Andrews said in the statement.

"We don't want rules on any longer than they need to be. We'll continue to follow the advice to protect what we've built while protecting our community."

A statement of reasons for the decision, along with the health advice, will be tabled in the Victorian parliament.

The announcement came after Health Minister Martin Foley flagged the state could drop its COVID-19 vaccine mandates in restaurants, cafes, pubs and nightclubs once the latest wave of infections, expected to peak within weeks, began to dip.

The state's hospitals are bracing for 500 or more patients a day with the virus at the height of its Omicron BA.2 sub-variant outbreak, according to Mr Foley.

However, overall daily case numbers are harder to predict because of factors including the number of people getting tested and those who are asymptomatic.

With cases still rising through April, Victoria will not yet be following Queensland's lead from April 14 by dropping the vaccine mandate for hospitality venues.

But Mr Andrews indicated that could be revisited once infections start falling again.

"Let's get through these next few weeks, let's get past this peak in sub-variant Omicron cases and then we'll have options," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"One of those, hopefully, will be dealing with things like the vaccinated economy and all sorts of other rules."

Mr Andrews last year flagged Victoria's vaccinated economy would remain in place until at least this weekend's Formula One Grand Prix and possibly throughout the whole of 2022.

Despite immunity waning over time, he said the double-dose vaccine mandate for hospitality patrons has helped mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and should stay for now.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, who returned to state parliament on Tuesday after isolating as a close contact of his COVID-infected nine-year-old son, said it was time to move on from vaccine mandates in most settings.

"It's about time we moved on with our lives, sensibly," he said.

There are currently 331 people in Victorian hospitals with the virus, including 16 intensive care patients.

Three more deaths with the virus were reported on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, traditional Anzac Day activities in Melbourne will revert to normal this year after two pandemic-disrupted years.

RSL Victoria confirmed people planning to attend the dawn service, march or commemorative service in the city will not need to register and their vaccination status will not be checked.

© AAP 2022

Newly minted South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas isn't going to spend his time in power complaining about the state's share of GST, or other perennial issues.

The Labor leader instead wants to focus on the future.

After a landslide election win in March Mr Malinauskas used a Wednesday National Press Club address to introduce his agenda for structural reforms to higher education, childcare and the economy.

He, of course, vowed support for federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese's prime ministerial bid, accusing the coalition government of focusing on short-term fixes and "intergenerational envy".

"I want to go beyond the here and now," Mr Malinauskas said.

"I am not here to have a whinge about the GST, I'm not here to have a whinge about water. I'm not here to have a cultural war about renewables.

"Just as I spent the South Australian campaign talking about the next generation, I want to spend every day in government on the same project."

State governments are "desperate for a federal partner" on future challenges, Mr Malinauskas said. He criticised the coalition for fixating on short-term cash handouts in the recent federal budget to address cost-of-living pressures, instead of long-term reforms.

The government had allowed the national economy to become reliant on exporting commodities such as coal rather than developing "brain jobs" for the future, he added.

"Look at (Australia's reliance on) coal, it is like having your life savings in a hat manufacturer in 1945 - we have 15 years to make the most of it," he said.

"The world will eventually stop buying this in a big way and if we want a living for our own retirements, much less for our kids, we need to make the transition really soon."

Mr Malinauskas said he needed a better federal partner for his proposed reforms, such as reducing the number of SA universities from three to two larger, more influential academic institutions.

"There is no serious policy effort in the current federal government on higher education, there is just an inexplicable, irresponsible habit of intergenerational envy and Canberra politics," he said.

Mr Malinauskas highlighted his promise for a royal commission into early childhood education, and unfavourably compared the coalition government's efforts in this area to Mr Albanese's promise for a "massive investment".

In response to commentary that he would make a better leader than his federal counterpart Mr Albanese, Mr Malinauskis ruled out any future bid to enter federal politics.

"Mr Albanese ... will bring an extraordinary degree of experience to the prime ministership which I hope he is able to succeed at achieving, potentially in a few weeks time," he said.

Mr Malinauskas also said it will take a federal Labor government to implement an Indigenous voice to parliament, and highlighted his own promise to deliver a state-based treaty and voice for Aboriginal people.

He additionally vowed to advocate for an increase of Australia's humanitarian intake cap of 13,750 refugee places.

"If we can't at least double that, I think that would reflect a lack of national pride and contextual understanding of exactly who we are as a country and what our values are," he said.

Mr Malinauskas assumed power when his party secured eight additional seats to form majority government, ousting Liberal predecessor Steven Marshall after one term.

© AAP 2022