Police disrupt Sydney anti-lockdown protest amid Protestors clash with Police in Melbourne.

Australian police clashed with hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters in Melbourne and Sydney on Saturday as officials reported the country’s highest ever single-day rise in Covid-19 cases.

NSW Police managed to arrests and issued more than 250 fines to people breaching the state's COVID-19 public health orders on Saturday, after a crackdown on anti-lockdown protesters in central Sydney.

The protest march scheduled to start at 12 noon at Victoria Park, on Broadway was thwarted before it began after more than 1,500 police officers made their presence felt across the city throughout the morning.

Police patrolled Sydney’s streets and blocked both private and public transport into the center of the city to reduce the number of people gathering at an unauthorized protest. Roadblocks heading into the CBD were established at main arteries and  authorities had also issued a prohibition on taxis, rideshares and other transport services from taking people to the city.

The Sydney protest lost momentum after one of its key organisers, Anthony Khallouf, was jailed yesterday for breaching public health orders. The 29-year-old Victorian man was a key figure behind a July rally in Sydney that attracted thousands of anti-lockdown demonstrators.

In New South Wales state, police said they arrested 47 people and fined more than 260 in relation to demonstrations across the state. They also issued 137 tickets after stopping about 38,000 vehicles that approached the city.

In Melbourne, however, anti-lockdown marches turned violent today after about 4,000 mostly unmasked protesters fired off flares, yelled and blasted music in the central city. Victoria state police arrested 218 people and issued more than 200 fines, each for more than 5,400 dollars.

Six Victoria state police officers were hospitalised and three people remained in custody for allegedly assaulting police.

“The behaviour seen by police was so hostile and aggressive that they were left with no choice but to use all tactics available to them,”  saying in a statement.

Footage posted on social media showed protesters cheering, throwing objects at police officers and letting off flares as well as police pepper-spraying protesters.