Treasurer Josh Frydenberg insists medical experts will guide the relaxing of economic restrictions despite coronavirus infections plummeting across major states.
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Queensland on Monday recorded no new cases of the disease for the first time since March 9, while Victoria detected just one new infection.
In NSW there were six positive tests, while South Australia and the ACT reported no new cases over the weekend.
There have been 71 coronavirus deaths across the nation, but of the 6600 total cases recorded, more than 4200 have recovered.
From the peak of nearly 5000 active cases on April 4, Australia had around 2400 on Monday.
Australia's low mortality and high testing rates are among the world's best.
But health officials and senior government leaders are cautioning against complacency as grim economic predictions raise questions about when to loosen restrictions.
Deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said it had comforted him over the weekend to see Australians exercising in pairs or family groups and the lengths some small businesses had gone to in enforcing social distancing.
"Because I know how hard it is now that we are approaching just over a month of these really stringent physical distancing measures and restrictions that we have placed on our usual lifestyle," he told reporters on Monday.
"(The) continued ongoing low level of reporting of cases which demonstrates that the physical distancing measures that we have asked of Australians and that Australians have really embraced are still paying dividends for us."
Mr Frydenberg said the infection rate was a reflection of how seriously Australians were taking distancing orders.
"When it comes to social distancing, quarantine, isolation measures, we'll continue to take the medical advice and that's served Australia well," he told reporters in Canberra.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the numbers were not an invitation to roll back the rules.
"They are simply a validation that this strategy is working and we'll have options if we can continue to see this sort of performance," he said.
The Grattan Institute has released a new report predicting the jobless rate could rise to 15 per cent, outstripping Treasury's forecast of a 10 per cent peak.
"There's no doubt we will see higher unemployment here as a result of the economic impact of the coronavirus," Mr Frydenberg said.
Grattan found between 14 and 26 per cent of the Australian workforce - as many as 3.4 million people - could be out of work in the coming weeks.
With the JobSeeker scheme taken into account, they predict the unemployment rate will be between 10 and 15 per cent.
The Morrison government has set a series of benchmarks for economic restrictions to be gradually eased, with state and federal leaders due to make a call in mid-May.
Among the goals is a 40 per cent take-up rate of an app that uses phone interactions to trace when people with coronavirus have come into contact with others.
Government Services Minister Stuart Robert said the software would help to allow a restart of economic and social activity.
"It's going to allow us to get back to life quicker," he told ABC TV.
"It will allow us to get back to the footy quicker. It will allow us to get back to work quicker."
Mr Robert has moved to allay privacy fears surrounding the app after some government MPs said they wouldn't sign up.
Dr Coatsworth said the app was simply the icing on the cake to the existing process of tracing cases, offering back-up to people's memories of who they had been in contact with.
"It is the case that if you put the app out and even if only one per cent of the population take it up, it will be more useful than if no-one takes it up," he said.
The national cabinet, which includes Mr Morrison and state and territory leaders, will meet on Tuesday to discuss the prospect of restarting some elective surgeries.
Australian Associated Press
