Received

A rare bottle of 1951 Penfolds Grange, signed by its creator and the company's chief winemaker at the time, Max Schubert, has sold for a record $122,001.

It's believed to be the highest price ever paid at auction for a bottle of Australian wine, after a Melbourne buyer paid $103,000 for a single bottle of the Bin 1 Grange Hermitage last year.

Just two bids were placed at the online auction on Sunday with 76 people watching online and a reserve price of up to $160,000.

The bottle was re-corked in 1988 because the original cork had perished, and is listed as having minor label damage with a wax stamped seal now over the original white foil capsule.

"This bottle of 1951 is extremely rare, comes from an exceptional cellar and will be highly sought after by collectors," the company said.

While it is hard to be certain, estimates suggest there are up to 35 bottles of the original vintage still in circulation including about 15 that are part of complete sets.

In 2018, a bottle of the 1951 vintage sold for $80,386 with two bottles fetching $81,000 each the following year.

At that same auction in 2019, a full set of Grange, from 1951 to 2015, was snapped up for $372,800.

That was followed by a Sydney wine lover paying $430,000 for a set in December last year.

The Grange owes much of its status to its history, starting out as an experiment by Schubert, who did not sell it commercially but gifted the wine to friends and family.

He was Penfolds' first chief winemaker, holding the title from 1948 to 1975.

The initial response to his creation was not favourable and by 1957 Penfolds had ordered him to stop production.

Despite this direction, the next three vintages were still produced and a subsequent tasting of the early wines by the Penfolds' board returned more favourable opinions.

© AAP 2021

NSW has recorded 105 new COVID-19 cases and the death of a woman in her 90s as residents in Greater Sydney adjust to tougher lockdown restrictions designed to curb the rate of infection.

Another day of triple figure cases follows the death of a woman in her 90s from southeast Sydney on Saturday, the fourth death attributed to the current outbreak.

Of the new cases, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said 27 had been infectious while in the community.

"That's the number that worries us the most, we've seen that number crop up day in and day out," she said on Sunday.

A total of 66 of Sunday's cases were linked to known clusters while 39 remain under investigation.

The state is yet to see a significant drop in case numbers despite some form of lockdown conditions in the capital for three weeks.

Ms Berejiklian said she expected a lag of between five or six days until case numbers began to drop as a result of the latest restrictions.

"We are throwing everything at this, we want to come out of this lockdown as soon as possible," she said.

The majority of Sunday's cases are concentrated in southwestern Sydney, with 69 found in the Fairfield local government area.

However Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said residents had to be vigilant no matter where they were in Greater Sydney.

"Every time you leave your house, it is critical that you assume you are coming into contact with COVID," she said on Sunday.

Residents are barred from leaving three council areas while all but critical retailers across Sydney are closed.

Stay-at-home orders have been tightened in Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool with locals not allowed to leave until July 30.

Initially there were only exceptions for workers in health or emergency services, however the list has been expanded considerably to include retail workers in shops permitted to open as well as teachers and freight drivers, among others.

Asked about the shifting guidelines in the wake of the major announcement, Ms Berejiklian thanked residents for their patience and said "comprehensive" information is now available.

"I'm not embarrassed to say that in public life yesterday was probably the most difficult day I've had personally," she said.

The southwestern lockdown has prompted a harsh response from some within the medical community.

The Doctors Reform Society says enough Pfizer vaccine to administer to all 600,000 adults who live within the three municipalities should be provided within the next fortnight.

Tougher restrictions now apply across the entire Greater Sydney region including the shutting down of construction sites large and small.

Supermarkets, pharmacies, banks and few other retailers are allowed to open and must operate with 'click and collect' or takeaway.

All office workers and others working from home should not be pressured to go in to work, with employers to face a $10,000 fine if they push staff to attend.

With data modelling based on more than 400 exposure sites indicating everyone in Sydney is at risk, the premier said the harder line was needed.

On Saturday she defended the measures taken to curb the outbreak so far, saying they had prevented "thousands and thousands" of cases and the further restrictions were a "no-regrets policy".

The harsher measures were prompted by the persistent numbers of people infectious in the community before they were diagnosed.

Residents were assured on Saturday that government agencies would mobilise between now and July 30 to provide them with supplies and services as needed.

A full list of NSW exposure sites can be found at health.nsw.gov.au

© AAP 2021

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says it is too early to tell whether there will be an extension of the state's five-day COVID-19 lockdown.

The premier said on Sunday the state was not seeing any new chains of transmission opening up and the outbreak was unfolding as the government "hoped it would".

"This lockdown won't be on any longer than it needs to be," Mr Andrews said.

Victoria recorded 16 new locally acquired cases in the 24 hours to midnight on Saturday but authorities advised there had been an extra case added in the hour before Sunday's press conference.

The additional case was a man in Mildura who had presented at hospital with COVID-19 symptoms after he attended the Carlton-Geelong AFL match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last Saturday.

When asked whether regional areas might be out of lockdown sooner than other places, the premier said he had no advice to shorten the lockdown for anybody.

There were 53,283 test results returned during the last 24-hour reporting period and 16,751 vaccines administered in Victoria.

Victoria has also recorded two new infections acquired overseas, currently in hotel quarantine, bringing the total number of active cases to 71.

The locally acquired cases are all linked to the current outbreaks and Victoria's health department said it is engaging with six schools after they were linked to positive cases.

A stay-at-home order is due to expire at midnight on Tuesday, but could be extended based on data including case numbers and exposure sites, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said.

"Every Victorian needs to ready themself for what might emerge over the next 24/48 hours," he said on Saturday.

"All I can say is the response couldn't have been better. The judgements that have been made around a hard and fast lockdown have been the right ones. And that's got us on a good track.

"We've got settings in place until Tuesday midnight and we will make another assessment every day over the next three days."

On Saturday authorities estimated there were 10,000 "primary close contacts" in Victoria and by Sunday morning had identified 217 potential COVID-19 exposure sites across the state.

Some of the exposure sites and close contacts have spread to regional Victoria.

Sites of concern include pubs, clubs, restaurants, sporting venues, shopping centres, schools and gyms in metropolitan Melbourne, suburbs and multiple locations at Phillip Island, a two-hour drive south of Melbourne.

The growing list of sites and restrictions can be found at www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said the state looks forward to the Commonwealth's vaccination program push.

"I don't think it's a state secret that we are a long way behind where we should be in the vaccination program," he told reporters on Saturday.

Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania have imposed border restrictions with Victoria.

© AAP 2021