Endorsement by the National Cabinet of principles was confirmed by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Morrison said the principles drew heavily on the Australian Institute of Sport's (AIS) "Framework for Rebooting Sport in a COVID-19 environment".

He highlighted how outdoor activities were considered to be at a lower risk for coronavirus transmission than at indoor facilities, while ensuring that community sport is able to return as well as the elite level.

The AOC have welcomed the principles, with the organisation’s chief executive Matt Carroll saying Olympic sports are mindful of the responsibility they have to ensure individual and community health is maintained.

"This is a very sensible approach, sport by sport and state by state," Carroll said.

"Sports has a major role to play in the overall health of our nation and particularly when it comes to reconnecting our communities right across Australia.

"I would particularly like to thank Dr David Hughes, AIS Chief Medical Officer and medical director for the Australian Olympic Team for Tokyo 2020, for the role he and his team have played in developing the framework.

"The AOC encourages the sports community to embrace the principles to ensure the staged return to sport is sustainable and that community safety remains the highest priority.

"The benefits of sport are too great to be jeopardised.

"The AOC looks forward to working with Government to ensure a smooth transition through the phases.

"Our sports and athletes have been through a lot.

"Today’s announcement will provide a great deal of optimism for them all, particularly those focused on representing Australia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to be held in 2021."

The 15 principles include the statement that the resumption of sport and recreation activities should not compromise the health of individuals or the community, with resumption based on objective health information to ensure it does not risk increasing local transmission rates.

All decisions about resumption of sport and recreation activities must take place with careful reference to the national principles, following close consultation with Federal, State and local public health authorities.

The principles reference the AIS Framework consideration of the differences between contact and non-contact sport and indoor and outdoor activity.

The framework provides a three phase general guide on the introduction of various levels of sport participation at both community and elite levels, outlining risk mitigation strategies and public health capacity.

Individual activity at recreation and professional levels are to be considered in resumption plans.

Community activity is recommended to take place in a staged fashion with an initial phase of small group, considered to be 10 people, in activities including full contact training and competition in sport.

Significantly enhanced risk mitigation, including avoidance and social distancing must be applied to all indoor activities associated with outdoor sports, including at club rooms, training facilities and gyms.

The principles also say that for high performance and professional sporting organisations, the regime underpinned in the AIS Framework is considered a minimum baseline standard required to be met before the resumption of training and match play.

Sports seeking specific exemptions in order to recommence activity are required to engage with and potentially seek approvals from their respective state, territory and/or local public health authorities over additional measures to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus.

Sporting organisations will also be required to respond accordingly to restrictions introduced should local outbreaks occur, while a detection of a positive case could result in quarantine of a whole team or large group.

For the foreseeable future elite sports should do so in a spectator-free environment with the minimum support staff available to support the competition under the principles, while community sport and recreation activities should limit those present to the minimum required to support the participants.

Both the training and competition venues should also be assessed to ensure precautions are taken to minimise risk to those participating in sport and those attending sporting events as spectators.

Over 3.5 million coronavirus cases have been reported worldwide since the outbreak began, resulting in over 245,000 deaths.

Australia is seeking to emerge from lockdown with just 18 cases reported in the country in the past 24 hours.

A total of 6,800 cases have been reported in the country, with less than 1,000 still active.

Australia has recorded 95 deaths from coronavirus to date.

The national principles can be accessed here coronavirus-covid-19-national-principles-for-the-resumption-of-sport-and-recreation-activities.pdf

The AIS framework can be viewed here australian-institute-of-sport-ais-framework-for-rebooting-sport-in-a-covid-19-environment.pdf