On Wednesday, chief health officer Brett Sutton announced that you can now drive to parks, running tracks and beaches within five kilometres of your home to exercise.

While outdoor exercise is one of the four reasons you can leave your house under the state’s stage-four lockdowns restrictions, there’s been confusion around whether driving to exercise spots within your lockdown radius was allowed.

Up until now, the restrictions only allowed you to walk or cycle to get an hour of daily exercise. “We are aware that people have talked about that as an unreasonable constraint,” Sutton said. But the Department of Health and Human Services still advises that Melburnians “use common sense and consideration when it comes to their activities”.

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The existing rules around exercise still apply. You can exercise once per day, and only for one hour. And you can only exercise with one other person, but if you have a dependent who cannot be left alone, they can come with you too.

All indoor and outdoor gyms and sport facilities are closed.

Those who do leave their homes for essential reasons must follow social distancing guidelines, which include maintaining 1.5 metres from others at all times and avoiding physical greetings. Masks are now mandatory statewide whenever leaving home. For updates, check the DHHS website.