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South Australian Premier Steven Marshall has today announced his state will move to Stage 3 restrictions from 29 June, and interstate travellers will be permitted to enter the Festival State from 20 July.
However, before Stage 3 is implemented SA will move into 'Stage 2.5' next Friday, under which the number of people allowed to attend venues will be increased from 20 people per room to 75 people per room.
The total number of people allowed in a venue at one time will also be increased from 80 people per venue to 300.
This tentative step prefaces the major easing of restrictions that will be implemented from 29 June when the State enters Stage 3.
In line with the alterations made to Stage 3 restrictions, announced today by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and agreed upon by the National Cabinet, the 100-patron limit will be scrapped in SA to be replaced with the more lenient one person per four square metre rule.
SA's domestic borders will also be lifted on Monday 20 July as part of Stage 3, allowing interstate travellers to visit.
"This could only be possible because of the massive improvement right across the entire nation," says SA Premier Steven Marshall.
"We will be looking at some of the state borders with individual jurisdictions who are doing particularly well; we don't want to unnecessarily detain people for two weeks of isolation if they don't pose a health risk to us in South Australia."
Marshall says the state is still considering final legal advice over the lifting of borders and will announce further developments next week.
While SA is pushing ahead with the reopening of its venues, it is unlikely the State's crown jewel Adelaide Oval will be allowed to reopen at a higher capacity under the new Stage 3 restrictions announced today by the Prime Minister.
For venues like smaller stadiums with a capacity of 40,000 people or less under Stage 3 they will be able to operate with specific restrictions in place.
Venues that run outdoor sporting or cultural/entertainment events can be operational as long as people are seated with a cap on 25 per cent capacity, meaning some venues may be able to have up to 10,000 people.
But Adelaide Oval has a total capacity of 53,500, meaning it is too large to fit under the national guideline announced today by the Prime Minister.
That has not deterred SA so far, with the Adelaide Oval to host an AFL match tonight between the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide to a seated crowd of 2,000 people.
Updated at 2:59pm AEST on 12 June 2020.
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