"I appreciate that the government is in a difficult position ... but I guess when you look at ARCC we have no current active cases of COVID-19," he said.

"And our neighbours have very low numbers or none as well.

"It's really hard to reconcile the fact that we still have pretty serious limitations on our movement ... but we don't have a lot of coronavirus cases around."

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Under the roadmap our of COVID-19 restrictions, regional Victoria will be unable to move to the next step until there is an average of five cases a day in a 14 day period and zero cases of "mystery" transmission in the same time frame.

Premier Daniel Andrews has suggested that regional Victoria could jump two steps ahead on the roadmap, allowing businesses to open sooner, there there had been no talk of time frames.

Dr Harrison said the lockdown was "hurting" the business sector and hopes they can open up a "little bit" soon.

"Our main street shops and our hospitality providers are really suffering at the moment," he said.

"You think about any business that has got very little revenue during that time. It's devastating for them and their sense for the future."

Ararat Motor Inn owner Michael Patel had his "lowest occupancy ever" in August.

"In April and May it went down but August was the worst. We only had 15 per cent of occupancy and we are normally around 80-90 per cent," he said.

"This second lockdown has been harsh for us ... we are very frustrated."

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Mr Patel said the Ararat Motor Inn was open but for essential travellers only.

"The second lockdown definitely had a bigger impact than the first one," he said.

"We understand that health and safety are important but there should be a balance with the economy.

"The optimism is there and we are hopeful, but we have lost trust in the government's capability."

Dr Harrison said he would like the government to act quickly in easing the restrictions for regional Victoria.

"As we get down to zero community transmissions and five active cases in regional Victoria, we need to go to the next level straight away ... going to that 'normal covid' situation," he said.

"In particular, we are not held up in any way by concerns about inequity between people who live in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.

"There are 500,000 people who live in regional Victoria, and if they can move more freely, that would be great for local business."

Dr Harrison said the council would reassess how to support businesses during the coronavirus roadmap.

"Grampians Tourism is working around the 'visiting family and friends' campaign to encourage people living in regional Victoria to visit their family and friends in places like Ararat," he said.

"We certainly want to work with businesses as close as we possibly can ... to look at how we can open things up as we move forward."

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