A long-awaited path out of nationwide coronavirus restrictions that have upended the lives of millions of Australians is expected to be considered when state and territory leaders meet with the Prime Minister today.

Recently, there's been a surge in withdrawals, with people scared of selling in an unstable market as a recession looms and job losses hit. Agents like Rufina have never seen anything like it.

After five months of evidence from more than 200 witnesses, the Claremont serial killings trial is nearing an end. Here is the state's case against Bradley Edwards for the murders of three young women in Perth.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says coronavirus restrictions in the state will not ease any further this week, despite the National Cabinet agreeing on a three-step plan to reopen most of the country by July.

Tasmanian students can return to classrooms by the end of May under the Premier's plan to roll back coronavirus restrictions. Rules around national parks, funerals and aged care visits will ease from Monday, with two consecutive days without new cases.

National Cabinet has outlined a three-step plan to relax the restrictions put in place to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Here's what you need to know.

James Stuart Logue, a 29-year-old kitchenhand, also pleaded guilty to watching videos of young children being sexually abused in "depraved" ways.

A defamation lawsuit launched by one of Australia's most decorated soldiers could be delayed until next year because of coronavirus and a decision by the Attorney-General to invoke special secrecy laws to protect sensitive military information.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly says it is too far in the future to speculate on when life will get close to normal in Australia as the country looks to lift restrictions in stages.

The parents of young children in Queensland will be fighting back the urge to jump for joy this weekend, but the little ones might be feeling a bit anxious about returning to school.

Darwin's famous Parap Markets reopen today and it is only six more sleeps until Territorians can order a pint at the pub.

Queen Elizabeth has led tributes to veterans of World War Two, recalling the "never give up, never despair" message of Victory in Europe Day 75 years ago, as coronavirus dampened VE Day commemorations.

A 92-year-old resident of Newmarch House aged care home in western Sydney dies after contracting coronavirus, as NSW reaches a record high in testing rates.

No new COVID-19 cases were recorded as the State Government announced a multi-million-dollar medical research fund to tackle the disease.

South Australia's Mayura Station spends $92,000 securing elite Wagyu genetics for breeding stock.

Environmental groups have called for greater transparency about the potential health impacts of Australia's largest onshore liquified natural gas plant as residents say their complaints are ignored.

A group of scientists is pushing for Exmouth Gulf, next to Ningaloo Reef in remote Western Australia, to be protected from industry saying its biodiversity is of global significance.

Six Malaysian men visit Perth seeking $1.5 million they lost when an alleged Ponzi property scheme masterminded by WA businesswoman Veronica Macpherson collapsed three years ago.

Scientist Richard Connor has discovered that Monkey Mia's dolphins have the most complex non-human society on the planet.

Water banking involves the deliberate injection of surplus water into known aquifers. The idea is to repurpose the world’s many artesian basins as giant sustainable storage tanks - ones that can readily be drawn upon in times of drought. It’s just one of the ideas we explore in the second instalment of our two-part series on water conflict and management – the politics, the problems and the potential solutions.

The Himalayas are sometime called the earth’s “third pole”. They’re a vital source of water for a large chunk of the world’s population. But the local, national and international systems put in place to protect and manage human development in this vital ecosystem are failing. In this episode, Matt Smith travels to the Himalayas for Future Tense to gauge the size of the problem and possible solutions for safeguarding its future.

Police arrest three people who allegedly led them on a pursuit in two stolen cars through several Adelaide suburbs, after road spikes failed to stop the high-speed chase.

Another O-Bahn extension, more Park'n'Ride services and interchange feeder services are all on the cards ahead of Tuesday's State Budget, but you might have to wait longer for a city tram loop.

MORNING BRIEFING: The father of missing Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez will front the media today as homicide detectives travel to Byron Bay to assist in the investigation, while some of the residents of Mascot Towers will be permitted to return to their homes to pick up belongings.

Elite women's tennis will return to WA at least one more time after Perth was chosen to host the final of the Fed Cup competition in November, beating bids from Melbourne and Brisbane.

The WA Attorney-General casts doubt on whether more than $600,000 worth of severance payouts, made to former Health Department employees embroiled in a decades-long corruption scandal, will be recovered.

Chrys Barker has been confined to a wheelchair and is in need of 24-hour care since being critically injured in a car accident in 2014. He's now been awarded what is believed to be the biggest single personal injury settlement in Queensland.

Sex workers say they are being harassed and intimidated by South Australian police, as figures show charges for sex-work offences have spiked in the past two years.

A South Australian judge has given a stark warning to a street-level drug dealer about the horrors of ice, saying it causes people to snap in bars, coward punch strangers, neglect their children and even kill.

The father of missing Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez travels to Australia to give an emotional press conference where he promises to bring his son, who has been missing since May 31, home.

Harry Bowman has been the face of the Top End's crocodile cruises for more than 30 years, but the time has come for him to say farewell to his toothless old mate Brutus the giant saltwater croc.

The biggest league match of the year rolling into Perth this week will inevitably trigger discussions about whether WA should have its own NRL side, but that decision depends on something far more important than crowd sizes, writes Tom Wildie.

The father of missing Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez says unlocking his son's last WhatAsapp messages could be key to find him alive. But a leading expert says the tech giant is incapable of unjumbling the "garbled" encrypted messages.

An Indigenous boy with an intellectual impairment was stripped naked inside Brisbane's adult maximum-security police watch house after being deemed a suicide risk, documents reveal.

A south-east Queensland council with more than 700 memorabilia items the bulk of which is believed to have been bought with ratepayers' money is asking the community what should be done with the haul.

Hawthorn captain Ben Stratton is suspended for two weeks by the AFL tribunal, one week each for repeatedly pinching Essendon's Orazio Fantasia and stomping on the foot of Shaun McKernan.

Stunning footage of a security guard at Bellerive Oval attempting to enter the field of play to separate two tussling players has former players shaking their heads.

A female footballer who played in a men's South Australian country league has her suspension reduced to four weeks by an independent tribunal.

There is a "crisis of confidence" in the NSW building industry following the second emergency evacuation of an apartment block in Sydney in six months, the Insurance Council of Australia and Federal Government warns.

The Tasmanian dream of re-entering the National Basketball League could be about to become a reality after revelations NBL owner Larry Kestelman plans to purchase the Derwent Entertainment Centre.

MORNING BRIEFING: The ex-girlfriend of a woman who fell to her death from a Sydney apartment block is expected to be charged with her murder, while a backpacker says the alarm about Theo Hayez's disappearance should have been raised much earlier.

More than 12 tonnes of dead fish have been buried after a council on the New South Wales north coast bowed to public pressure and opened a lagoon.