The vast majority of businesses could be up and running in less than two months after the national cabinet approved a comprehensive set of health protocols to enable commerce to resume in a "COVID-safe environment''.

Declaring "we now need to get 1 million Australians back to work", Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the state and territory leaders agreed on Tuesday that when they next met on Friday they would lift restrictions in three steps with the aim of establishing "a sustainable COVID-19 safe economy in July 2020".