Police have handed out nine $1000 fines after an estimated 25 to 30 people were discovered at a Lake Macquarie home for what the resident told officers was a religious service.
It comes as police continue to monitor compliance of the coronavirus public health orders across the state.
Lake Macquarie Police District officers were called to a home on George Booth Drive about 11am on Sunday after an unusually large number of vehicles was spotted in the area.
There, police said they found between 25 and 30 people at the home without face masks.
Officers spoke with the 42-year-old man who lived at the home, who told them the people were there for a religious service.
Police fined the man for breaching the public health order that applies to regional NSW, which says no more than five visitors can be at a person's home at once.
Eight other people at the property were fined $1000 each for breaking public health orders.
Police issued 201 infringement notices across NSW in the 24 hours to 7am on Monday - 121 of those in regional parts of the state.
It was a drop from 240 fines in the previous 24 hours, in which Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys singled out Newcastle when speaking publicly on Sunday as having more than 12 penalty notices issued during that period.
Deputy Commissioner Worboys told reporters in Sydney on Monday that police were not operating a "ring of steel" strategy, as claimed in some parts of the metro media at the weekend.
"NSW Police Force has 17,700 employees, police officers that are competent, well-resourced and every single day are provided taskings right across the state," he said.
"When we look at that spread of those infringement notices, it shows the concentration of police and the efforts around the pandemic is right across the state of NSW.
"Every day police get disappointed with the inquiries they make off the back of Crime Stoppers and complaints from the public right across NSW.
"This is about a shared responsibility - police cannot be on every corner, they cannot be in every neighbourhood, but what we will do is respond to where the people are who are seemingly not taking these public health orders seriously."
NSW had 98 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases up to 8pm on Sunday, with 20 of those people spending at least one day in the community while infectious.
