NSW has reported 10 cases of community transmission of coronavirus as the still-unsourced Sydney inner west cluster grows.
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Of the 10, five were linked to Sydney's northern beaches cluster, with almost 28,000 tests conducted in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday.
The Avalon cluster, which erupted earlier this month, now totals 144.
Three of the 10 COVID-19 cases are linked to the Croydon cluster in Sydney's inner west and the source of that infection is still under investigation.
A total of nine people are now associated with the hot spot after six infected people from the same extended family were detected on Wednesday.
Of the two other cases reported on Thursday, one is a close contact of a previously reported infected patient transport driver and the other is from western Sydney and the source is under investigation.
Authorities are also still investigating two COVID-19 cases involving a pair of women from the same household in Wollongong, on the NSW south coast.
But Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was pleased to see the number of newly reported cases fall to 10 from 18 the day prior.
"Pleasingly, we have seen the numbers go down today, but it's very volatile ... they're going to bounce around," Ms Berejiklian said.
"What is really important is for all of us to do everything we can to reduce our mobility, to reduce the number of people that we're mixing with and to make sure that we stick to the rules and the health advice."
After Victoria recorded another five locally acquired infections amid an eight-person cluster in Melbourne, the state has mandated mask-wearing indoors.
But Ms Berejiklian continues to resist mandating mask use in NSW, arguing her government had to carefully weigh its COVID-19 response against its responsibility to uphold community freedoms.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant reiterated the threat of COVID-19 was ever-present, saying "we are never going back to normal".
"We might get a little bit more normalcy once we have all the population vaccinated, but COVID potentially will change our lives at all times and it may be something like the flu where we have to learn how to manage it with the tool of having a vaccine ... for literally years to come," Dr Chant said.
New health alerts were also issued on Wednesday and Thursday for various venues in NSW that were frequented by COVID-positive people.
They include close-contact alerts for The Swallowed Anchor wine bar in Wollongong on December 19, Earlwood Bardwell Park RSL on December 28, two venues inside Bankstown Sports Club on December 28, and a hair salon and nail salon at Bass Hill on December 24.
New casual-contact alerts include BWS Berala and Pure Thai restaurant in Berala on multiple days from December 24, Rhodes Priceline Pharmacy on December 24 and BWS Bass Hill on December 24.
Tighter restrictions for New Year's Eve and beyond have now come into force.
Household gatherings across Greater Sydney - which includes Wollongong, the Central Coast, Nepean and the Blue Mountains - have a limit of five visitors indoors, down from 10, and outdoor gatherings are restricted to 30 people, down from 50.
Sydneysiders are mostly banned from watching the city's New Year's Eve fireworks from the harbour on Thursday, with the foreshore fenced off.
Stay-at-home orders applying to northern beaches residents north of the Narrabeen Bridge will continue until at least January 9. A lockdown for the peninsula's southern zone will be in place until January 2.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard earlier on Thursday also said the third Australia-India cricket Test at the SCG would go ahead with a half-full crowd on January 7, despite Greater Sydney's coronavirus cases.
Australian Associated Press
