Deputy chief police officer Hall O'Meagher warned that if anyone was found to be in breach of the face mask mandate "they do run the risk of being given an infringement notice of $1000".

"If the matter runs to court, it could be up to an $8000 fine," he said.

"It's important for people to maintain an awareness of the current situation; obviously with a lot of activity happening interstate things can change quite quickly.

"Directions and compliance can change daily so it's best to keep an eye on the ACT government COVID-19 website so people can keep themselves abreast of what they are required to do."

The wearing of face masks was mandated in the ACT from midnight on Sunday. They are required when outdoors at a public transport waiting area and on public transport, and in public indoor situations where there are interactions, such as supermarkets or retail settings, where there are people you don't usually work or live with.

They are also required when dropping off and picking up children from childcare/after school care, visiting or working at residential aged care facilities and other specific indoor locations.

Over 1500 checks on those in self-imposed quarantine, on drivers of NSW registered vehicles, and on hotels and accommodation houses, have been conducted by police since the weekend.

He said that over the past 12-18 months of the pandemic's emergence and re-emergence, Canberrans generally had been understanding of the situation and compliant with police.

"We have done a very high number of checks and we've only had a relatively few number of issues over that time and I think that will continue to be the case," Acting Commander O'Meagher said.

"On the whole, Canberrans are doing the right thing."

He confirmed that a surge capacity was in place to run the COVID-19 task force and manage the extra compliance workload, as occurred during the Canberra lockdown when the pandemic hit in March-April 2020.

Up on the Federal Highway, the black Volkswagen Passat wagon parked discreetly to the side of the road, facing down the southbound lanes of traffic coming in from the NSW, could have passed for any other car.

But the wagon was an unmarked police car rated for pursuit and screening the incoming traffic as part of the stepped-up compliance measures in the ACT since an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta Covid variant forced five million people across Greater Sydney, Wollongong, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and the Illawarra into a 14-day lockdown on the weekend.

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For what is a usually busy school holiday period, traffic volumes on the Federal Highway leaving and approaching Canberra are very low.

Over 10,000 Canberrans remain in quarantine here after leaving the NSW high exposure area since the outbreak was detected.

It's meant an additional workload for the ACT's uniformed patrols, who find themselves masked up and back on compliance checks.

The police "hotel engagement operation" netted its first raft of COVID breachers on Saturday evening, with 50 people sent home and six family members escorted all the way past the northern border.

Acting Commander O'Meagher said that the hotels had been a focus initially, both to detect breaches and "educate the hoteliers on what their obligations are to help keep everyone safe".

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