Scott Morrison has declared reopening schools and workplaces will be crucial victories in the coronavirus fight as Australia prepares to lift restrictions.
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The prime minister says the nation's great success in flattening infection rates is not the end goal.
"We don't want to just win the battle against COVID-19 but lose a broader conflict when it comes to the economy and the functioning of our society," he said on Wednesday.
Just one new case of the virus from unknown sources was detected in the past 24 hours, the second day in a row with a single community transmission diagnosis.
The nation's coronavirus toll rose to 90 on Wednesday after a 12th person died at a western Sydney nursing home.
More than 5600 of the 6746 people diagnosed with coronavirus nationally have recovered.
"If we were to consider our success on COVID-19 as just having a low number of cases, that is not good enough," Mr Morrison said.
The prime minister nominated having protections in place, enabling people to return to work and children attend classrooms as key milestones.
"Of course, there will continue to be additional cases; of course, there will be outbreaks - that's what living with the virus will be like," he said.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly was confident Australia can handle a potential second wave of infections.
"If a second wave does occur, we'll deal with it quickly and we'll respond to it," he said.
Germany's infection rate grew after relaxing lockdown measures last week.
State and territory governments have begun to relax some rules while national cabinet meetings in mid-May loom as crucial to lifting further restrictions.
More than 2.8 million people across Australia have downloaded the government's coronavirus tracing app less than three days after it was released.
Mr Morrison urged those signed up to encourage two or three other people to download it, likening the app to wearing sunscreen outside.
"That is Australia's ticket to a COVID-safe Australia where we can go about doing the things we love doing once again," he said.
The number of people on the dole has skyrocketed, with more than 800,000 applications for the JobSeeker payment processed.
A new mental health co-ordination plan is due to be delivered to the national cabinet of federal and state leaders next week.
Diplomatic tensions with China have reached new heights as Australia continues to push for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus.
Mr Morrison denied the move was directed at Beijing, saying the inquiry would be in the global health interest.
"It is not a remarkable position. It is a fairly common sense position and one that we don't resile from," he said.
An extra 10 million coronavirus test kits have arrived in Australia, which amounts to about a 20-fold increase in testing capability.
Billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest has paid for the tests but expects the federal and state governments to reimburse his foundation.
National cabinet will on Friday discuss the use of the kits in sentinel testing, which would involve wider screening of the population.
Professor Kelly said the tests would be an important step towards lifting restrictions, noting 544,000 people have been tested nationally.
"We'll be expanding on testing, but we're not testing for testing's sake," he said.
The meeting of state and federal leaders will also look at the principles for the return of elite and community sport.
Australian Associated Press
