Catherine Di Blasio had been Christmas shopping for her two kids and was waiting for them to come home when she answered the door to three detectives on Sunday afternoon.

Her daughter and son had been taking a ride in a four-seater plane with their dad when it fell from the sky shortly after take off, landing in the ocean north of Brisbane.

All four passengers — father Cris Mocanu, 41; Lucas, 9; Lavinia, 10; and pilot Roy Watterson, 67 — died in the crash at Redcliffe.

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"I finally heard the doorbell ringing around four, and I just buzzed because I thought 'oh finally. The kids are here," Ms Di Blasio said.

Instead, she was met by police officers, who relayed the devastating news.

"When they walked in the first detective introduced himself as child protection services and my heart just sank. I knew it wasn't going to be good news," Ms Di Blasio said.

"For about 15 minutes I had no reaction I just couldn't believe it, I was obviously in shock and in denial."

READ MORE: States to push PM on earlier boosters at National Cabinet

She said the accident and the loss of her family still didn't feel real.

"I don't know how you move forward. Obviously I've never been in this position but when you say bye to them that morning, gave them a kiss, said 'I love you', you never think that will be the last time you see them," she said.

"I still can't believe it myself. It still feels like a dream and I'll wake up tomorrow and just wish it was all over. It just feels unreal at the moment."

Mr Watterson, an experienced pilot, had taken his colleague Mr Mocanu and the kids on the weekend trip when the engine stalled, causing the plane to land in the water shortly after take off.

The wreckage has since been pulled from nearby mudflats by a specialist retrieval team and sent to Canberra for examination.

Police and aviation specialists are working to find what exactly went wrong.

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Ms Di Blasio said the flight had been a surprise for the kids, for her son's birthday.

"They were really excited. They didn't know where they were going but their dad had said it was a surprise for them," she said.

She described her son, who loved soccer as "very caring, very energetic, competitive with his mates".

"My daughter Lavinia, she was very funny , everyone would always say 'Lavvy, I've never seen such a funny little girl'," Ms Di Blasio said.

"She was very caring, always made sure she looked after me."

Ms Di Blasio said she's touched by the tributes flowing in for her and her family.

"It's been really overwhelming, I'm really touched by the number of people that have reached out and contacted me in the last two days," she said.

"At the moment I'm just taking it one day at a time just trying to be strong and have lovely support with me."

Nearly four years after a deadly Boxing Day car crash, the inquest into the accident that killed Jessica Falkholt, her parents and little sister has concluded.

Jessica, an aspiring actor who had appeared on Home and Away, father Lars, mother Vivian and sister Annabelle died in 2017 when a drug-affected driver drove onto the wrong side of the Princes Highway.

Crag Whitall, who was drug dependant and a serial traffic offender, slammed into the family's car killing them in a fiery crash.

READ MORE: No changes to NSW restrictions despite massive surge in COVID-19 cases

In the hours before he had lied to staff at Shoalhaven Hospital about running out of methadone to get extra Valium.

His history of doctor shopping only became clear during the inquest, which heard those who treated the 50-year-old were not aware of prescribing by others.

Vivian's brother Paul Ponticello listened to four days of harrowing evidence, hoping it would lead to change.

Among the questions raised were should Whittall have been given a driver's license while on the methadone program; should he have been supervised while dosing; and why didn't hospital staff place a red flag against his name on the state-wide system.

But in the end, there were no formal recommendations made, and the coroner found it was a series of unfortunate events and the only person who knew the extent of the drug abuse was Whitall himself.

The Falkholts paid the ultimate price of that and Christmas is now the hardest time of year for their relatives.

READ MORE: How to have a COVID-safe Christmas

Jessica Falkholt was just a short way into fulfilling her dreams of becoming an actress, and her sister Annabelle, just 21 at the time of the crash is remembered as a nurturing soul who loved to laugh.

Lars and Vivian are remembered by loved ones as soul mates whose lives revolved around their daughters.

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Omicron variant cases could reach up to 200,000 a day next year across Australia without tougher restrictions, new modelling shows.

The latest modelling by the Doherty Institute predicts Omicron infections could surge and overwhelm the health system without more restrictions being introduced, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The modelling has been prepared for an emergency meeting of National Cabinet tomorrow where changing the interval between the second vaccine dose and the booster shot will be addressed.

READ MORE: Warning NSW COVID-19 cases could increase into January

Up to 200,000 cases a day could be reported across Australia by late January to early February without medium-level restrictions.

Hospitalisation rates could reach up to 4000 a day if the virus continues to spread rapidly.

The modelling is based on little to no restrictions where there is no lockdown, low-density requirements, no retail restrictions, and schools stay open.

It also assumes that the Omicron variant is more transmissible than the Delta variant and also causes severe illness.

The modelling showed a hard lockdown could suppress a serious outbreak in a month's time if most Australians receive all three vaccine doses by that time.

READ MORE: Testing wait times blow out again as Victoria records 1245 cases

The Prime Minister today insisted Australians would not undergo another hard lockdown.

"We're not going back to lockdowns," Scott Morrison said.

"We're not going back to shutting down peoples' lives."

"We've got to let Australians make their own choices about their own health and their own lives."

An emergency National Cabinet meeting will be held tomorrow to discuss this modelling and any changes to the booster regime.

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Australians are being asked to urgently give blood this Christmas, with more than 9000 donations needed across the country before the New Year.

As many as one in two blood donors have not been turning up to their appointments recently, according to the Red Cross, causing a severe shortage of blood.

New South Wales is in need of 2500 donations in the next 10 days, while another 2000 are required in Victoria.

READ MORE: 'Without them I would not be here': Blood donor plea amid no-shows

The Red Cross' Erin Lagoudakis said one donation was needed every 18 seconds.

"So we really need people continuously coming," she said.

"If you've only donated once donating once more will make a huge difference."

She said giving blood really was giving the gift of life.

"It is a bag of life that will go to a patient that you will never know or meet but it means that that patient may get a chance at survival.

READ MORE: Leading Melbourne epidemiologist believes Omicron is 'quite low on virulence'

"They may get to spend Christmas or New ones with their loved ones."

A Melbourne man who gave blood 74 times before one of his donation appointments led to him discovering he needed life-saving surgery is among those urging Victorians to roll up their sleeves.

Regular plasma donor Darryl Deller, a fit 63-year-old, learnt he needed a quadruple heart bypass after an irregular heartbeat was found when he went to donate in Bundoora.

Having had open heart surgery a few months ago, he can't wait to return to saving lives himself.

"It's just great to know that you could be saving lives," he said.

"As soon as I can come back I'll be straight back doing the same thing again, because it's just a great feeling."

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The NSW Premier is holding his ground on not introducing any new COVID-19 restrictions despite the state reporting a new daily record of 3057 infections.

Dominic Perrottet said the health and wellbeing of NSW residents is the state's primary concern but no additional restrictions have been announced.

"We always said as we open up case numbers will increase, hospitalisations and ICU numbers will increase," he said.

READ MORE: Warning NSW COVID-19 cases could increase into January

"As a challenge for our state it will be tough, but I believe as we got through every other challenge over the last close to two years we will get through this challenge too."

Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the state needs to stay open to "make sure we have lives we want to live".

"Each one of us has an obligation to keep one another safe," Mr Hazzard said.

NSW residents are urged to continue social distancing and get tested if symptoms arise.

Mr Hazzard added people should celebrate Christmas outdoors, as the "least likely place you will catch the virus is out in our magnificent outdoors".

Mr Hazzard also called for people to get their booster shots to take the pressure off the healthcare system.

"A gift to yourself and a gift to the community for Christmas, get a vaccination," he said.

Calls for changes to booster interval

Mr Perrottet also called for the interval between the second vaccine dose and the booster shot to be brought forward.

He said the NSW Government and Victorian Government will be urging for the interval to be changed to four months instead of five during the National Cabinet meeting tomorrow.

"We should be looking at opportunities to bring the booster shot forward from five months to four months," he said.

"The faster we get booster shots into arms the safer the community will be as we continue to open up."

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NSW reports record-breaking day of COVID-19 cases

NSW recorded 3057 new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, the highest daily total in Australia since the start of the pandemic.

There are 284 patients in hospital and 39 requiring intensive care.

There were 136,972 coronavirus tests carried out over the past 24 hours.

https://twitter.com/sophie_walsh9/status/1473055036238282754

Two people died with the virus overnight.

A man in his 80s from Sydney's south died at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

He had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and had underlying health conditions.

A woman in her 70s from the Central West died at the Gosling Creek Aged Care facility, where she acquired her infection.

She was not vaccinated and had underlying health conditions.

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Today's figures were released as NSW Dominic Perrottet was urged to reimpose mandatory face masks for some settings amid surging COVID-19 cases in the state.

The Royal Australia College of Physicians (RACP) is the latest to call on state and territory governments to maintain and reintroduce some COVID-19 restrictions to stop the spread of the virus around Christmas.

The RACP is encouraging governments to reintroduce (or maintain) mandatory mask-wearing, particularly indoors and when unable to physically distance, reintroduce (or maintain) mandatory QR code check-ins across all public venues and events, and restrict numbers of people at indoor public venues and events for a few weeks until the risks of the Omicron variant are better understood.

READ MORE: How to have a COVID-safe Christmas

"While we don't want to see families separated and communities impacted in the festive season, we are also wary of the increasing COVID-19 case numbers in states like NSW," RACP President and respiratory physician Professor John Wilson said.

"If not checked a surge in cases will further burden our already exhausted health systems due to an overwhelming rise in hospitalisations.

"The relaxation of restrictions in some jurisdictions, especially those associated with mask-wearing, QR code check-ins and large gatherings, can have dire consequences."

Mr Perrottet yesterday insisted his government is treating residents "like adults" as he continued to push back against calls for renewed COVID-19 restrictions.

He has urged residents to wear masks in some venues but unlike other states and territories has not made it mandatory.

Mr Perrottet yesterday called on NSW to "stand strong" as high case numbers continue.

"I appreciate, as premier, there is concern in the community. But now is our time to stand up, stand tall, and take care of each other," he said.

"We are treating the people of our state like adults."

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