Most of NSW should soon turn green under Victoria's coronavirus traffic light system, potentially freeing hundreds of police from border duties.
Premier Daniel Andrews expects changes will be announced by Friday afternoon that will further free up travel from NSW into Victoria.
Victoria has reached 22 days with no new local coronavirus cases, with 27 active cases in hotel quarantine.
"I'm very confident that tomorrow we'll be able to make some announcements about changes to settings," he said.
"That will mean a much greater freedom of movement.
"I would hope to have by the end of tomorrow no red zones in NSW, a much larger green zone, but there may be some remnants, a couple of local government areas, that remain orange."
Victorian Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt on Wednesday said it was time to bring home the 850 officers deployed to the border operation, which he described as a "huge chunk" of the force.
On Thursday, Mr Andrews stressed that was a call for Victoria Police, not the state government.
He also praised police for their work during a "very difficult" 12 months.
"Logic tells you that if we can get just about every part of the country green, barring one or two local government areas, then Victoria Police, there will be less of them on the border," he said.
"We ask a lot of them and working on the border is not easy, but it is playing a really significant part in keeping us safe and keeping us open."
Under Victoria's travel permit system, the Cumberland local government area is the only red zone.
Wednesday marked the end of the Black Rock restaurant cluster that sparked before Christmas, with the last local active case in Victoria.
Australian Open players are also about to start coming out of their hotel quarantines.
Testing numbers are up, with 14,494 results in the 24 hours to midnight on Wednesday.
