Diners eating out in Melbourne CBD from Monday to Thursday will soon be able to claim back up to 30 per cent of their bill as the government seeks to help city traders hit by lockdowns.

Premier Daniel Andrews and Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp have announced a $5 million voucher scheme for diners in Melbourne CBD as part of a $44 million package to help businesses in the CBD and boost weekday foot traffic.

The 'Midweek Melbourne Money' discount scheme will begin on Monday, November 15 and will apply to all restaurants, cafes and bars where meals are served across Melbourne City, which includes Lygon Street, North Melbourne, Southbank, South Wharf and Docklands.

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It will allow diners to to claim 30 per cent back on their bill when they spend between $50 and $500 in Melbourne's cafes, restaurants and bars between Monday and Thursday.

The scheme will continue until the $5 million allocated run out.

The state government is also putting $10.4 million towards helping CBD businesses set up for outdoor trading and dining through permit fee waivers and new infrastructure.

Expanded city Christmas Festival

A further $15.7 million will go towards running a bigger Christmas Festival than unusual in the city to further bring people and life back to the CBD.

This year's Christmas Festival will start two weeks earlier than usual on Friday, November 12.

There will also be new attractions including a Christmas Carnival at Birrarung Marr, floating art installations on the Yarra, a Christmas maze at Docklands, a Christmas night market at the Queen Victoria Market and augmented reality "Elfie Selfie" stations across the city.

Past attractions, including Santa's Workshop at Federation Square, lighting projections on the Melbourne Town Hall, Hamer Hall and Chapter House Lane, thousands of street decorations and a 16-metre-tall Christmas tree at Fed Square will also return.

Traumatised Victorian teenagers have been rescued after being stuck on a carnival ride, 35m in the air, for three hours.

One of the girls said she feared her harness would come loose and she'd crash to the ground from the ride, at the event in Victoria's west.

Millie Creswell, 15, said she had to be convinced to get on the ride at a Waurn Ponds carnival in Geelong.

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"I've always been really scared of rides," she said.

"But I went on it after a bit of convincing from my friends."

But Millie and her friend Taylah Drake ended stranded for more than three hours, four storeys above the ground.

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"It was scary, there was all like these creaks, you could hear all the bolts," Taylah told 9News.

Millie said she feared her harness would come undone and she would fall.

The girls' other friends waited below, and phoned their parents – with them having to 'sign language' their numbers from where they were trapped.

Millie's father, Jason Creswell, said the experience was horrible to watch.

"But at the same time you've got to stay strong for them because they're absolutely terrified," he said.

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Early attempts by workers at the Waurn Ponds Carnival to get the girls out didn't work, and Fire Rescue Victoria stepped in, bringing the riders down one by one.

Fire Rescue Victoria said two children were stuck 35m in the air, and another two were also stuck, but closer to the ground.

They said they had to ensure the ride didn't restart while they were working.

"That could have been catastrophic," Fire Rescue Victoria, Commander Mark Sinkinson, said.

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The carnival company said the issue was caused by a problem with the ride's gear box.

It has been dismantled and taken away for repairs.

The company gave the girls teddy bears as gifts.

Worksafe is investigating.

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Flash flooding wreaked havoc across Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs last night, with streets turning to rivers from Clayton to Dandenong.

There were more than 300 calls made to the SES, including 50 in the Springvale, Mulgrave and Keysborough area.

A number of motorists had to be rescued after their vehicles became trapped in flood waters.

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Owners of a BP service station in Mulgrave tried to save their equipment as waves lapped the business.

Operator Ayush Tyagi said the incident was "pretty crazy".

"At first it felt a bit unreal," he said.

"Especially when you work at a service station you have that fear of a potential leak of fuel, so, yeah we were scared."

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The heavy rainfall and hail even led to water seeping into Chadstone Shopping Centre, where shoppers were seen jumping in puddles indoors.

While there wasn't a huge amount of rainfall in the past 24 hours, it fell quickly, with some areas like Springvale recording 23.4mm in just 13 minutes.

SES Volunteer Meg Peach said the organisation had experienced its two busiest periods ever in the past six months.

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Sydney saw thunderstorms today, with multiple warnings issued this afternoon and continuing into the night for parts of the west.

Passengers on the Manly ferry were in for a rough ride.

Terrey Hills on the Northern Beaches got 11mm of rain, with showers to continue across the city for much of the week.

An oil tanker truck exploded near Sierra Leone's capital, killing at least 98 people and severely injuring dozens of others after large crowds gathered to collect leaking fuel, officials and witnesses said on Saturday.

The explosion took place late on Friday (local time) when the tanker collided with another truck as it was pulling into a gas station near a busy intersection in Wellington, just east of the capital of Freetown, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.

"Both drivers came out of their vehicles and warned community residents to stay off the scene while trying to address a leakage emanating from the collision," the agency said.

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In this deeply impoverished country, however, crowds still rushed in to scoop up the fuel, witnesses said. It was not immediately known what caused the leaking fuel to ignite but a massive explosion soon followed.

Video obtained by The Associated Press showed a giant fireball burning in the night sky as some survivors with severe burns cried out in pain. The charred remains of some victims lay strewn at the scene, awaiting transport to mortuaries.

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Nearly 100 injured people were taken to area hospitals, officials said.

About 30 severely burned people at Connaught Hospital were not expected to survive, according to Foday Musa, a staff member in its intensive care unit.

Injured people whose clothes had burned off in the fire that followed the explosion lay naked on stretchers as nurses attended to them.

Hundreds of people milled outside the main gates of the mortuary and near the hospital's main entrance, waiting for word of their loved ones.

Osman Timbo, said his 13-year-old brother, Mohamed, was among those who had died.

"He left home and said he was going to buy bread for us to eat," Mr Timbo said.

"When I heard about the explosion, I went to the scene and I saw my younger brother lying down and he was burned all over. I felt so bad. I loved him so much."

Hospital officials called in as many doctors and nurses as they could overnight to tend to the wounded.

The country's health care sector is still recovering from the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic, which killed many of the West African nation's doctors and nurses.

President Julius Maada Bio, who was in Scotland attending the UN climate talks, deplored the "horrendous loss of life."

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"My profound sympathies with families who have lost loved ones and those who have been maimed as a result," he tweeted.

Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh visited two hospitals overnight and said Sierra Leone's National Disaster Management Agency and others would "work tirelessly" in the wake of the emergency.

"We are all deeply saddened by this national tragedy," he said on his Facebook page.

Hundreds of protesters demonstrating against mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations have gathered in western Sydney as part of nation-wide rallies.

NSW Police say the 'Reclaim The Line' rally involving hundreds of demonstrators at Parramatta today peaceful.

Protesters formed a long line along the banks of the Parramatta River and held anti-vaccine placards with messages such as 'No mandatory vaccine'.

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NSW Police said there were no arrests.

New South Wales today recorded 244 new cases of COVID-19 and one additional death related the virus one day before the state enjoys a new raft of freedoms.

To date, 93.9 per cent of eligible residents in NSW have had one dose of COVID-19 vaccine while the state's full vaccination rate is now at 89.7 per cent.

Anti-vaccine demonstrations were also held in Adelaide and on the Gold Coast.

They follow large anti-vaccination and lockdown protests in Melbourne and Darwin yesterday.

More than 1000 people in Melbourne marched down Bourke Street towards Parliament House to protest against the Victorian Government's vaccine mandates and a proposed COVID-19 pandemic bill.

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At times, protesters shouted "free Victoria" and "sack Dan Andrews" as they marched.

Many displayed anger over the proposed bill that would allow COVID-19 rules to remain during global pandemics, rather than relying on state emergency powers.

And anger spilled over in Darwin yesterday as protesters gathered to protest against the mandatory COVID-19 vaccines in the Northern Territory.

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Police said seven arrests were made in relation to the protest.

Lockout laws are currently in force in Darwin in response to a COVID-19 outbreak.

Restrictions have been extended in the city.

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