Townsville opens up, Brisbane still in lockdown

The far north Queensland city is set to host Supercars next weekend, however the event has been subject to significant doubt throughout the week after a snap three-day lockdown was announced on Tuesday.

That was in response to a positive COVID-19 case from Brisbane that travelled through Townsville as part of a trip to popular holiday spot Magnetic Island.

Brisbane and the Gold Coast, home to Triple Eight, Dick Johnson Racing, Matt Stone Racing and Team Sydney, were all plunged into lockdown.

Adding to doubts over the Townsville 500 was Victoria, home to six Supercars teams, putting Townsville on its red zone list, which means 14 days of quarantine for new arrivals.

There is some good news today, however, with Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirming that Townsville and the Gold Coast will come out of lockdown at 6pm today as planned.

But Brisbane will stay locked down for another 24 hours due to three new positive cases in the Queensland capital.

That means the complications for Supercars are only partially cleared, with T8 based in the Brisbane suburb of Banyo and therefore still in lockdown.

Victoria is also yet to clear Townsville from its red zone list which will leave the Melbourne teams nervous about travelling north.

A decision on the Townsville 500 is expected to be made today, with a double-header over the next two weekends still on the table.