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National cabinet is moving to scrap quarantine requirements for all COVID-19 close contacts as soon as possible, with urgent health advice being sought.

Australian leaders also agreed to a transition away from PCR testing for healthy people with mild respiratory illnesses, and instead promote voluntary self-isolation for this group while symptomatic.

Both moves are being reviewed by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee.

Australians could also find out in a matter of weeks whether they need to receive a second COVID-19 vaccine booster ahead of a predicted winter surge in infections.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said advice from Australia's leading vaccine advisory group could come through by the end of the month on whether a fourth dose would be recommended for people over 65.

Mr Hunt said it was more likely than not a fourth dose would be needed for some groups of the population ahead of winter, when a spike in both COVID and flu infections is forecast.

"I can't pre-empt the decision but ... they are potentially going to recommend a second booster, which would be potentially the start of an annual program for people 65 and above," Mr Hunt told reporters in Canberra.

"We're expecting that advice from ATAGI within the next three weeks, if not earlier."

It comes as the government announced $2.1 billion to prepare for the current winter, which was agreed to by national cabinet on Friday.

The plan will involved $1.2 billion to help protect residential aged care and disability care sectors, $356 million to protect vulnerable population groups and a further $571 million for vaccines.

Mr Hunt said a scheme which provided free rapid antigen tests for concession card holders would be extended until the end of July this year.

So far, more than 5.5 million people have collected the free tests, with 20 million tests distributed among concession card holders.

The health minister said despite a rise in COVID cases being predicted, infections were unlikely to reach the highs seen during summer at the peak of the Omicron wave.

"We saw an absolute peak in Omicron cases and we're not expecting anything at those levels," Mr Hunt said.

"COVID infections are a little bit like a bouncing ball - the highest bounce is likely to have been in January and then will progressively decrease over time, but there will be a bounce as it goes into winter."

Despite concerns of a new Omicron sub-variant being detected, deputy chief medical officer Sonya Bennett said preparations had been made to deal with new strains.

"What we've learnt over the last few years is we now have a range of tools in the toolkit ... so we now have adequate and ready access to rapid antigen tests and adequate access to treatments for those at risk," she said.

"We know that public health and social measures need to be implemented in the worst-case scenario."

There were a further 30 COVID-19 deaths reported on Friday, including 10 in Victoria, seven in NSW, eight in Queensland, three in the ACT - including one historical case - and one in South Australia and the Northern Territory.

There were 14,034 new cases in NSW, 6811 in Victoria, 5005 in WA, 4327 in Queensland, 2503 in SA, 1129 in Tasmania, 791 in the ACT and 273 in the NT.

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Flood disaster funding has been extended to a dozen more council areas in NSW, with the federal emergency management minister saying parts of the state remain in the grip of an emergency.

"The floodwater is receding in some areas, but we know there are other regions still in the emergency stage, where the focus remains on saving lives and keeping our communities safe," Bridget McKenzie said Friday.

The funding will now be accessible to local councils for Cessnock, Cumberland, Dungog, Goulburn Mulwaree, Lithgow, Maitland, Mid-Western, Muswellbrook, Queanbeyan Palerang, Singleton, Snowy Monaro and the Upper Hunter.

Flood affected people in those LGAs are eligible for one-off payments of $1000 per adult and $400 per child.

Workers, small businesses and farmers who can demonstrate a loss of income are also eligible to apply for 13 weeks of assistance.

NSW Flood Recovery Minister Steph Cooke said the funds will help households, small businesses, farmers and local councils begin the recovery process, and the unprecedented disaster required "equally unprecedented resources".

Premier Dominic Perrottet said the priority in the Northern Rivers was on the clean-up, housing for flood victims and financial support.

The government sent the first of 120 motorhomes to northern NSW on Friday after flooding destroyed thousands of homes.

NSW Rural Fire Service volunteers are driving the motorhomes from Sydney, and the first 20 are expected to arrive by Sunday.

Some 1200 flood victims have received emergency accommodation after 5500 homes were assessed as damaged, about half of those uninhabitable.

The $10 million spent on motorhomes is part of a $551 million housing support package for 25,000 households, jointly funded by the state and federal government.

The package also includes funding for temporary housing and 16 weeks of rental support.

Some $90 million has been set aside for the clean-up across 28 local government areas.

The Insurance Council of Australia estimates 126,511 claims across Queensland and NSW would cost insurers $1.89 billion, however further claims are likely.

Claims have risen by more than seven per cent since Thursday.

Asked if he had urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison to declare the Northern Rivers region a natural disaster zone sooner, Mr Perrottet said it was "only relevant to co-ordination at a commonwealth level".

"In NSW, we set up our state emergency operation centre immediately," the premier told Nine.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese questioned why it was taking the prime minister "days and days into this disaster" to declare a national emergency.

"The parliament gave the prime minister and the government powers to do that after the experience of the bushfires," he told the ABC from Lismore on Friday.

Mr Albanese said flood-affected Ballina residents had told him they were traumatised and having difficulty accessing government support.

One of the six recovery centres established in the flood-hit Northern Rivers is in Ballina, and is supposed to provide access to multiple government agencies in one location to make it easier for flood victims to access support.

Two recovery centres are set to open in the Hawkesbury-Nepean region in the coming days as floods recede there.

Ms Cooke has also announced the appointment of Resilience NSW Metropolitan Sydney director Dean Betts as recovery co-ordinator for the Hawkesbury-Nepean floods.

A woman in her 60s was flown to hospital from an Upper MacDonald property isolated by those floods on Friday after suffering a fall and injuring her leg.

Meanwhile, commuters face ongoing delays after the wild weather caused extensive damage to the train network across Greater Sydney.

There were landslips in Pymble, Casula and Emu Plains, and a sinkhole in Leura, with work taking place at more than 100 sites, Sydney Trains CEO Matt Longland said.

Flood levels on the Hawkesbury River began to recede on Friday morning and were at moderate river heights at North Richmond, Windsor, Sackville and Lower Portland, and minor heights at Wisemans Ferry.

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Victorians are being encouraged to flock to pop-up COVID-19 vaccination hubs at Bunnings stores across the state to lift third-dose rates ahead of winter.

The state government on Friday announced the hardware chain will host 20 temporary clinics at various Melbourne and regional Victorian sites from next week.

"Come down, get your snag, get your tools and get a vaccination," Health Minister Martin Foley told reporters from a Bunnings site in Melton.

"What we need to do, particularly as we're heading towards the winter season, is to keep those vaccination levels up as high as we possibly can.

"There are some communities where we know we need to do more to lift those vaccination rates (in) some of the outer suburbs, some of the regional centres and some communities with culturally and linguistically diverse (people)."

The first hubs will open in Wodonga, Keysborough and Melton East on Wednesday.

About 53 per cent of residents 16 and over from the City of Melton, 52.3 per cent from the City of Greater Dandenong, and 65.6 per cent from the City of Wodonga have had three vaccine doses to date.

Other pop-up clinics are planned for the Queen Victoria Market, Swan Hill Food and Wine Festival and annual Elmore Tractor Pull in coming weeks.

Victoria currently has 61.9 per cent of adults vaccinated with three doses, ahead of mandatory vaccination rules kicking in for key workers.

After being pushed back, the deadline is approaching for aged care, disability, emergency service, meat processing, quarantine and food distribution workers to get their third jab.

From 11.59pm on Saturday, workers in those industries - including contractors, volunteers and students on placement - will need to have received their third dose to continue working.

Healthcare workers who received their first jab before September 12 are also required to have received their third vaccine by Sunday.

Victoria recorded 6811 new COVID-19 cases and a further 10 deaths on Friday.

The health department confirmed four of the deaths occurred in February, while three happened in January.

The number of Victorians in hospital declined overnight by three to 185 patients, with 27 people in intensive care and three requiring ventilation.

There are 46,263 active cases in the state.

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Three men have been charged with drug offences after the discovery of almost four kilograms of cocaine at an Adelaide property.

On Thursday, detectives from the Serious and Organised Crime Branch searched a suburban Fulham Gardens property where they found 3.87 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of $1.6 million.

Further properties were searched in Adelaide's western and north-eastern suburbs with $504,000 in cash seized along with four vehicles and two motorcycles allegedly used in connection with the trafficking of illicit drugs.

The three men arrested, a 37-year-old from Findon, a 28-year-old from Seaton, and a 24-year-old from Broadview were charged with attempting to traffic in a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug.

They were refused police bail and were expected to appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday.

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