More than 16 million people will enter the weekend under stay-at-home restrictions after Victoria joined Sydney, parts of regional NSW and southeast Queensland in lockdown.

Sydney's crisis is the most concerning coronavirus flashpoint with 262 new local cases and five deaths reported on Thursday.

Eight new cases in Melbourne triggered a seven-day shutdown, while southeast Queensland remains hopeful of easing restrictions on Sunday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has backed lockdowns as the main tool to stop the current outbreaks, while NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian believes vaccinations are key.

Senior federal cabinet minster Peter Dutton criticised the Victorian government's decision to close the whole state down.

"I don't agree with the whole of Victoria being locked down or the whole of Queensland being locked down," he told the Nine Network on Friday.

"In Queensland they have taken the decision to go for a defined number of local government areas and that has worked effectively."

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles said lockdowns were a product of the prime minister not rolling out vaccines soon enough.

"The biggest issue is a failure of supply right now and that is because Scott Morrison said it wasn't a race," he said.

The opposition continues to call for more certainty in federal support packages for business and workers.

Mr Dutton said the government had introduced a more targeted form of nationwide wage subsidies and doubled states' efforts.

"If there's more assistance that we need to provide we will," he said.

The prime minister will chair a national cabinet meeting of state and territory leaders on Friday afternoon to discuss easing restrictions for vaccinated people when coverage rates are higher.

Mr Morrison has rejected Labor's plan for all fully vaccinated people to receive one-off $300 payments.

Australia has fully vaccinated almost 21 per cent of its population 16 and over but continues to lag behind most of the world.

A record 221,859 doses were administered in the past 24 hours taking the total past 13 million.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has asked the federal government to bring forward the state's allocation of Pfizer doses after NSW and Queensland locked in an acceleration.

NSW will receive 183,690 doses in the next two weeks, while Queensland will be given an extra 112,000 in the same period.

Australian Associated Press