As it happened: Hotel quarantine bungles revealed at inquiry as Victoria records 240 new COVID-19 cases; Australian death toll jumps to 463

The hotel quarantine inquiry has resumed for the afternoon. You can watch the hearing live, below:

Department of Foreign Affairs officials are updating a Senate committee on Australians stuck overseas. Since the government told people on March 13 to reconsider international travel, some 371,000 Aussies have returned home.

There are still 27,000 people registered with DFAT posts overseas and 18,800 of these want to return to Australia. About 2000 are vulnerable people. Officials said the top countries ex-pats are looking to return from are India (7500 people), the Philippines, South Africa and Vietnam.

The government has organised 64 repatriation flights since those first ones to evacuate people from Chinese province Wuhan in January, and 45 of these have been from India. But officials said they had limited leverage with airlines to help Australians stuck overseas get on to commercial flights.

The travel cordon around Melbourne and the closure of the state's borders have disrupted many of those living on the outer edges of the state.

We'd like to hear from readers on what these restrictions have meant for people at a practical level.

You can tell us your story using the form below.

Thank you for joining me so far today as we heard damning evidence at the hotel quarantine inquiry from both nurses and returned travellers.

Paul Sakkal will take the reins for the afternoon and will bring you the latest updates from the inquiry.

Leading human rights lawyer Hugh de Kretser has told Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry that the quarantine program needed to be better tailored to individuals’ needs.

Mr de Kretser, the executive director of the Human Rights Law Centre who stayed at the Rydges on Swanston with his family in late June, said proper access to fresh air and exercise was an absolute necessity. He said his family was only provided 10 minutes of fresh air on days 12 and 13 of their stay.

He explained that the impact of detention on those being quarantined must be considered on a case-by-case basis.

"That means you need an exemption procedure and you need very good welfare checks and triage processes to assess the welfare of people in those vulnerable groups," he said.

That includes people with mental health concerns, children, people with disabilities, people who need particular medical treatment and the like, he said.

The inquiry heard earlier today from a man whose heavily pregnant wife was left in tears because she was denied the chance to get fresh air and use a bath that would have eased her back pain while staying at Crown Promenade hotel in Southbank.