Australia

David Tate found one snake in his bedroom and another in the living room on Monday. They weighed 22kg (3.4 stone) between them.

Snake catcher Steven Brown said they were of "exceptional size".

It's thought the two male snakes could have been fighting over a female snake which has not yet been located.

The carpet pythons measured 2.8m (9.1 feet) and 2.5m long.

Mr Tate said he had previously seen snakes basking in the sun on his roof.

"When I came back...there was a large slab [of ceiling] on the kitchen table," he told The Courier-Mail.

Visor Auvele and Rachel Sale from Samoa are personal care workers at Bolton Clarke’s Cunningham Villas, a residential aged care community in the coastal town of Bowen, Queensland.

The women have worked in Australia since 2019 through the Pacific Labour Scheme.

Like many other PLS workers, the Pacific Island border closures will mean they will have to stay in Australia and continue working during the pandemic.

Victoria has reported another 18 deaths in the past 24 hours, while New South Wales and Queensland are dealing with new cases.

Chief Nursing Officer Alison McMillan said while it was heartening to see daily cases in Victoria drop to below 100 for the first time in nearly two months, it was too early to celebrate.

"Many of us across the eastern seaboard particularly are seeing much nicer weather, we're seeing perhaps the first signs of spring," she said.

"So I need to ask everyone to remember that now is not the time to be complacent as we see the sun come out.

The latest fatalities take the state's Covid-19 death toll to 438.

Yesterday's total of 116 new cases was the state's lowest in more than seven weeks .

It followed 209 new cases on Sunday and 182 on Saturday.

Premier Daniel Andrews is expected to give his regular daily update with details about the new cases later today.

Yesterday, he announced his Government would seek to change laws so that Victoria's state of emergency could be extended by another 12 months.

Brent Shannon and Ethan West found the stones near goldmining town Tarnagulla in Victoria state.

Their lucky find was shown on TV show Aussie Gold Hunters, which aired on Thursday.

The men dug up the ground and used metal detectors to detect gold in the area.

"These are definitely one of the most significant finds," Ethan West said, according to CNN. "To have two large chunks in one day is quite amazing."

The inquiry also heard guards at quarantine hotels were given "inappropriate" training advice.

Australian media report that guards were told masks and other protection would not be necessary, as long as they adhered to 1.5m social distancing.

Victoria is currently in lockdown because of a second wave of infections.

Stricter "stage four" restrictions were put in place in the city of Melbourne on 2 August for six weeks.

Official data on Thursday showed there were 292 new infections in the past 24 hours, down from 428 on Wednesday.

It is the lowest daily total since 20 July. Victoria had by far the most infections - 278. Its capital Melbourne began its shutdown on 3 August.

Health Minister Greg Hunt voiced cautious optimism about the new data.

"We now believe, cautiously, that we have early signs of the flattening of the curve," he said.

There was, however, some evidence that drastic lockdown measures in the city of Melbourne were having an effect, with daily new infections in the state of Victoria slowing to a near two week low.

"I am more hopeful of that today than I was in the course of the past week," Morrison told reporters in Canberra, as he called on state leaders to cooperate to allow stranded residents to return home.

Australia's federal political system has led to its eight states and territories taking different measures in response to the crisis, resulting in several internal border closures.

This is the state's equal-deadliest day since the pandemic began.

The 13 deaths include a man in his 60s, two men and a woman in their 70s, two men in their 80s and five women and two men in their 90s.

Eight of the deaths are linked to aged care outbreaks.

The deaths take the state's coronavirus toll to 136.

Of the new cases, 36 are linked to outbreaks or complex cases and 393 are under investigation.

Premier Daniel Andrews said 671 new coronavirus cases had been detected since yesterday and seven more people had died.

Six of the deaths have a connection to aged care.

Andrews said there was an "unacceptably high" number of community transmission cases, and the state had 760 active "mystery" Covid-19 infections where the source of the transmission was not known.

"Those mysteries, that community transmission, is in many respects our biggest challenge and the reason why we need to move to a different set of rules," he said.