Australia set to ease border limits to bring stranded citizens home

Australia is set to gradually raise the number of international travellers allowed back into the country to help bring more Australians stranded overseas home.

Due to a cap on weekly international arrivals set in July, currently more than 24,000 Australians are waiting to return from overseas.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday announced that states and territories had agreed to an overall cap rise from 4,000 to 6,000 by mid-October.

He said the plan is to ultimately have no limit on the number of Australians who can return.

"Let's get to this next level, and then ultimately we'd like to see those caps lifted, as they were back in early July. That would be my goal," Morrison told reporters.

Morrison had insisted that the number would rise by next Friday, but has given states more time to boost hotel quarantine capacity.

International arrivals must undergo mandatory two-week hotel quarantine.

New South Wales will take an additional 500 people weekly from September 27.

Queensland and Western Australia will gradually increase arrivals from the same date, with the aim to each allow 500 more by early October.

Morrison again raised the possibility of a travel bubble with New Zealand, saying the national cabinet had discussed travel between the two countries with no quarantine requirement for some places like the South Island.

On Friday, 45 new virus cases were recorded in Victoria, the country's Covid-19 epicentre. The state reported five deaths, taking the national toll to 837.