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The government website set up for people to apply for a permit to cross the Victoria-New South Wales border crashed just 45 minutes after launching.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the strict closure from 12.01am Wednesday in a bid to stop the second wave of COVID-19 spreading from Victoria.

Some 1,000 police officers and defence personnel will patrol the border to check all cars crossing between the states. 

The only way to travel between states is by acquiring a permit, but people rushed to the website when it went live at 7.30pm on Tuesday only to be left waiting for hours.

The government website to apply for a permit to cross the Victorian and New South Wales border crashed just 45 minutes after launching

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the strict closure from 12.01am Wednesday in a bid to stop the second wave of COVID-19 spreading from Victoria

The only way to get between states is by having a permit but people rushed to the website when it went live at 7.30pm Tuesday only to be left waiting for hours

Workers are desperately trying to get their permits before trying to cross the border to get to work on Wednesday, otherwise they risk being fined $11,000.

Multiple people took to social media on Tuesday night to report the website had been crashing.

By 8.15pm users were not able to apply for a permit with the 'apply online' button disappearing completely.

An error appeared on the page saying: 'The transaction will be available soon'.

Others were told: 'This transaction is not available at this time. Try again later'.

One Twitter user said he had been trying to apply for a permit so he could cross the border to get to work on Wednesday morning but the 'site keeps crashing'.

'So does this mean your site has already crashed? Just trying to get a cross border permit because I have a shift in Victoria at 10am,' another said. 

'Am I doing something wrong? Why is the permit not available for me but the apply now button shows up for others?' another woman questioned. 

By 8.15pm users were not able to apply for a permit with the 'apply online' button disappearing completely

NSW Police officers speak to drivers crossing the border between NSW and Victoria in the NSW-Victoria border town of Albury

'Only 4.5 hours before the border closes the permit site FINALLY live... except it can't handle the volume and is crashing before able to submit! Absolute joke,' one woman wrote. 

The bug seemed to have been fixed shortly before 11pm, just an hour before the border closures came into effect.

'The permit application system is experiencing high levels of demand. You may experience delays in securing a permit,' the website read.

'You can still demonstrate your eligibility to cross the border to Police by carrying relevant documentation based on your category of exemption.' 

A total of 1,000 police officers and defence personnel will patrol the border to check all cars crossing between the states

New South Wales police officers look on as passengers arrive from a Qantas flight that flew from Melbourne at Sydney Airport to be met by health officials on July 06

Locals and mayors in Albury-Wodonga say they have been left in the dark after the move to close the border. 

The border between the towns will shut, with exemptions for essential crossings, including for medical care, and for locals in towns such as Albury and Wodonga.

Albury Mayor Kevin Mack argues the boundary for permits should be extended by up to 100km because of the number of people in regional areas that travel across the border for work.

'It should extend more than just beyond the perimeter of our cities because we have a strong local regional population,' he said on Tuesday.

He also flagged he'd like to see people with local permits go through a transit lane while other cars are stopped to minimise the disruption to the 9000 people who travel between Albury and Wodonga for work.

Mr Mack said they were still yet to confirm a permit system for locals to travel across the river that divides the two towns.

'We have been bereft of information,' he said.

Wodonga mayor Anna Speedie said fear and anxiety had only been growing as midnight loomed.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the strict closure from 12.01am Wednesday in a bid to stop the second wave of COVID-19 spreading from Victoria

NSW Police officers speak to drivers crossing the border between NSW and Victoria in the NSW-Victoria border town of Albury on Tuesday

'The last 24 hours have been pretty nerve-racking,' she said. 

Local health officials said there were two confirmed cases in Albury, both from the same family.

Albury-Wodonga Health chief executive Michael Kalimnios urged locals to keep their regular medical appointments on either side of the border.

Pregnant women in Albury would be allowed to cross the border to access the region's maternity services based in Wodonga.

The Hume Highway was rampant with Victorian licence plates as people headed south to get home before the borders shut.

One of them was Melburnian Sue Corcoran, who was taking a break from driving home after visiting Canberra with her family.

She had sold her father's home in Eden after his health deteriorated due to the summer bushfires.

'Dad stayed down in Eden (over summer) then he got stuck in the fires,' Dr Corcoran said.

She was helping her father settle into a nursing home in Canberra with her mum when she heard the borders were closing.

Dr Corcoran said the Eden home still needed to be cleaned out of her father's belongings before settlement, but with no certainty on when borders would reopen she wasn't sure when she'd be able to get back.  

NSW Police warned the first 72 hours of the closure would be challenging and asked that people avoid crossing the border if they didn't need to.

NSW Nationals leader and Deputy Premier John Barilaro admitted he was concerned about the wellbeing of regional communities and demanded greater clarity around the Victorian border's reopening.

He also suggested the government may consider 'ring-fencing' Albury-Wodonga by enforcing the border north of Albury or south of Wodonga.

A permit system providing exemptions to allow people across the border will be put in place, but the hastiness with which Premier Berejiklian implemented the shutdown means they can not yet be accessed - leaving many to hurriedly rush back to their home state before deadline

A passenger wearing a protective masks arrives on a flight from Melbourne into Sydney on Tuesday

'We also have to have a plan when we will reopen, what will be the trigger to reopen the borders, because that community will suffer,' Mr Barilaro said on Tuesday.

NSW Police Minister David Elliott flagged the border closure, which impacts 55 crossings over more than 1000km, may last weeks rather than days.

About 650 police officers and 350 Australian Defence Force personnel will help fortify the closed border with police granted powers to turn people away and issue on-the-spot fines.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller warned the standard penalty for people who fail to comply is a $1000 fine but some could be slapped with a maximum fine of up to $11,000 or six months in jail.

He warned there will also be significant fines for people who falsify information to enter NSW.

Police Officers congregate outside the Domestic Terminal before being transported to various parts of the NSW border at Sydney Airport on Tuesday

Locals and mayors in Albury-Wodonga say they have been left in the dark after the move to close the border

'Police will have powers to demand details of people, powers to turn people around, and powers to issue on-the-spot fines and charge people,' Mr Fuller said on Tuesday.

NSW residents who want to leave Victoria after midnight on Tuesday will need to fill out an exemption form and self-isolate at home for 14 days.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian had previously repeatedly criticised interstate travel restrictions as a handbrake on economic recovery and insisted she wouldn't agree to border closures with neighbouring states.

But Ms Berejiklian said the rate of COVID-19 community transmission in parts of Melbourne gave NSW health officials no choice but to close the border. 

NSW reported seven new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday from 9746 tests, including a man who tested negative in hotel quarantine before returning home to Newcastle on Sunday and developing respiratory symptoms. 

He and his close contacts have been placed into isolation. The other six cases were travellers in hotel quarantine.

Victoria on Tuesday recorded an additional 191 new COVID-19 cases.