Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth said it is unlikely Victoria will come out of stage four restrictions in two weeks time as scheduled.
"It's hard to see that happening," he told Today.
"I have to be honest ... with the people of Victoria. I think that we're going to have to see the numbers down where they're controllable.
"That is the numbers that you are seeing in NSW and Queensland at the moment. You can see the effort that it takes to control numbers between about five and 10 per day."
Victorian Stage Four restrictions are currently scheduled to end on September 14.
"I think we need to see what happens to the numbers. I think the numbers need to be a lot - a lot less than they are now."
Dr Coatsworth also told Today he believes masks should be mandatory on public transport in Queensland and NSW.
"We have seen an increase in numbers across Metropolitan in Sydney and the list of transport cases is growing. I think it's time we're all wearing masks on public transport," he said.
"Masks certainly had a positive effect in Victoria when there was a significant amount of community transmission.
"I think what we can be sure of is that the NSW and Queensland chief health officers will have a far lower threshold for instituting mandatory mask wearing.
"They're the ones that have the best idea of the local epidemiology, the spread of cases, how it's spreading. They're the ones that will make the decisions as to whether it's compulsory or not."
Dr Coatsworth said the difficulty of making mask-wearing mandatory was the need to have a strong "enforcement mechanism" in place.
"You have to get to the point where it's actually going to make a substantial difference to transmission. And that's probably not at the level that NSW has had at the moment," he said.
"My message is if the cases go up, then masks will be mandatory. So ... let's all get on board with this. It is a straightforward thing to do. And we need to do it in Sydney and south-east Queensland at the moment."
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