Scott Morrison insists increased vaccination rates offer hope as Australia hurtles towards record coronavirus case numbers.
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NSW smashed its own grim daily infection high with 633 new cases on Wednesday. Three deaths were also reported.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said her state hadn't seen the worst of the outbreak, with everyone who contracts the disease spreading it to more than one other person on average.
With 24 new cases in Melbourne and 22 in Canberra, there were 679 local infections nationwide on Wednesday, just 19 short of the worst day during last year's second wave.
The prime minister continues to urge the nation to remain upbeat despite more than half of the population in lockdown and infection rates still rising.
"We're going to beat this. We are going to get on top of it. We are never going to give up in our battle against COVID in this country," he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
"We've had so many successes, compared to so many countries around the world, by persevering and pushing through together."
Mr Morrison described each of the 273,000 vaccine doses administered in the past 24 hours as rays of light out of the tunnel.
The opposition blames the NSW outbreak on the slow pace of rolling out jabs and the lack of national quarantine centres.
Vaccines are a key weapon available to NSW which were not available when the virus ran rampant in Victoria last year.
But the Delta strain circulating during Australia's third wave is more contagious than previous variants.
Australia has vaccinated 27.5 per cent of its population aged 16 and above, while nearly half of that group has received a first dose.
Labor's health spokesman Mark Butler said the prime minister had promised to immunise all older Australians before the onset of winter.
"We know that older Australians are vulnerable to respiratory illnesses like COVID during the dangerous winter season," he told reporters in Adelaide.
"Yet still, almost half of older Australians are still not fully vaccinated, leaving them dangerously exposed with tragic consequences that we're now seeing on a daily basis."
Mr Butler said young people accounted for a huge share of coronavirus patients across the country as he called for the government to provide guarantees around widening the rollout.
"Children and teenagers are now the frontline in this disastrous third wave," he said.
The prime minister said he expected the expert immunisation panel ATAGI to make a decision soon on vaccinating all 12 to 15-year-olds.
"We're talking about the vaccination of our kids and I want to be very sure about the medical advice we're getting about that," Mr Morrison said.
Meanwhile, Western Australia is the latest state to strike an in-principle deal with the federal government for a 1000-bed quarantine facility.
It is expected to be running at half-capacity by March next year.
There were no new cases in the Northern Territory where Darwin and Katherine are locked down.
Australian Associated Press
