Donna Spillane, husband Grant Liptrot and their children, university students Josh and Abbie, have been working and studying from home since the suburb they live in became a COVID-19 hotspot during the recent Victorian school holidays.

The Victorian government's later declaration of a state of disaster and introduction of tougher stage-four coronavirus restrictions including Melbourne's first nighttime curfew, is prolonging the family's isolation.

A second six-week lockdown is underway in the Victorian capital with the Spillane-Liptrot household in support of efforts to stop COVID-19 spreading and save lives.

READ ALSO:

But Ms Spillane tells of daily coronavirus cases in the hundreds making her feel "physically sick" and of a struggle with depression and anxiety.

The support of former colleagues from St Johns College, Macquarie Anglican Grammar School, friends in the broader Dubbo community and ex-students has been a gift that keeps giving.

"I really appreciate the friends I made in Dubbo right now," Ms Spillane said from her home in the Melbourne suburb of Seddon.

"I have had so many of them reach out to me on Facebook and on Messenger, asking "Are you okay?" and saying "Thinking of you down there".

"You know who your friends are when things are bad because they really start coming out of the woodwork."

The family spent about 13 years in Dubbo where Josh, 21, and Abbie,18, consider they "grew up".

But Melbourne beckoned six years ago and did not disappoint.

Ms Spillane said the family enjoyed "everything" about the Victorian capital, including its friendliness, cleanliness, food, live music, art galleries and "so much theatre".

"I love Melbourne," she said. "I love it. It's a great city."

A former Sydneysider, she has no plans to leave Melbourne but is saddened by the impact on it of the COVID-19 crisis.

"The first lockdown people were really great," she said before telling of Melburnians putting teddy bears in windows to entertain children and handing out free fruit from their trees.

"This lockdown is different. We're all in face masks so you can't see people smile. People wave at each other but it's kind of sombre.

"There's so much more dog poop everywhere. People seem to have stopped caring about their environment.

"People are crankier with each other. In line at the supermarket, they are snapping at each other, saying 'Get back, get back'."

Ms Spillane puts the changed behaviour down to people being frightened, stressed and worn down by the impact on their health and livelihoods of the coronavirus.

"We're in lockdown for six weeks and I have no idea what happens after that," she said. "I can't see an end to it.

"To tell you the truth I hope they keep us in lockdown or at least not open the schools this term.

"I would really rather teach online for the rest of the term. If there's still going to be cases, I want to be home."

Ms Spillane, who feels teachers have not been listened to in the debate over whether schools should be closed, says her anxiety "started to kick in" when the first lockdown ended and she returned to face-to-face teaching for the final two weeks of the last school term.

While she "really enjoys" teaching English, drama and history to Year 7 to 9 girls at Caroline Chisholm Catholic College, getting to school proved nerve-racking.

"I catch public transport to school and I was going through areas where there were cases and I was getting stressed," she said.

"We went into the school holidays and in its second week my suburb happened to be one of the hotspots and so we went into lockdown and have been in lockdown ever since."

Last year the family, which lives four train stations from Melbourne's central business district, sold its car because "what's the point of a car in Melbourne".

"We were being environmentally conscious but I have never regretted a decision more in my entire life," Ms Spillane said with a little laugh.

But in all seriousness, she knows others are "worse off" including friends with relatives in the age care system where the coronavirus is killing elderly residents almost daily.

Ms Spillane is fearful for her own family in Sydney including her ageing father.

"I'm a little bit worried," she said. "Dad is 87 in a week. I face the very real prospect of not seeing them even at Christmas this year."

The roller coaster of emotions being experienced by the Spillane-Liptrot family also has been driven by the possibility of the COVID-19 crisis thwarting long-held goals.

Ms Spillane, who was heavily involved in theatre productions during her time in Dubbo, began a Master of Screenwriting at the Victorian College of the Arts two years ago.

In 2019 she "picked up a company" willing to help her develop a play.

"We were going to put it on at the Melbourne Fringe but the festival is not going to happen," Ms Spillane said.

The family is also concerned about its bid for home ownership.

Ms Spillane said a few months before the coronavirus hit, she and husband Grant put a deposit on an under-construction unit.

"Now we're looking at house prices dropping and thinking we're going to have to come up with another 10 per cent probably to cover the shortfall of valuation.

"I am worried that we will be stuck renting for the rest of our lives. We're lucky that our work is pretty stable. We just hope things start to go up again."

Through it all the family remains "close-knit", a key factor in it getting through each day.

"We get on really well," Ms Spillane said. "We're a very close-knit family. We always have been."

The family is missing its outings including breakfast in a cafe every Saturday morning but Ms Spillane finds comfort in the love and company of her husband and grown-up children.

"I would hate to be in a family where there were struggles or issues," she said.

Ms Spillane thinks Melburnians became "complacent" about restrictions after the first lockdown.

Minimal COVID-19 cases led people to protest "Oh it's a bit of a beat-up" and believe "they've taken us out of lockdown so it must be okay", she said.

"I don't think we should have come out of lockdown," Ms Spillane said. "I think they should have been harder at the beginning."

She is not into the blaming and shaming of politicians and others as the crisis unfolds.

Instead, she is cherishing her family, preparing lessons, teaching and watching for the light at the end of what may be a long tunnel.