Victoria can handle the fallout of decriminalising public drunkenness despite the delayed rollout of health services, the state government insists.
In a media briefing on Monday, mental health minister Ingrid Stitt and health leaders outlined how Victoria's response will work from Tuesday when public intoxication is no longer a crime.
Ms Stitt expressed confidence in the model and its ability to cope with the change coinciding with Melbourne Cup day, a traditionally boozy public holiday for tens of thousands.
"I'd also point to the figures from last year's Melbourne Cup, which only saw five individuals across the state arrested for public intoxication," she told reporters.
Victoria Police are still vowing to be highly visible across the Melbourne Cup carnival but will encourage drunk people to seek support or refer cases to outreach teams.
"If a drunk person commits a criminal offence, they will be dealt with swiftly by police," a police spokeswoman said.
Outreach teams will help drunk people reconnect with friends or family, provide public transport options and even offer to charge their phone if it runs out of battery.
When a drunk person doesn't want help, police and paramedics may leave them alone if deemed safe.
Victorians should still phone triple zero if they see a vulnerable drunk person in the street but emergency services, licensed premises and transport operators will be able to call a 24/7 triage service.
The hotline will be staffed by call-takers from the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, who will refer cases to outreach teams, focusing on 16 identified areas of high demand across Melbourne.
A 20-bed sobering up centre on Cambridge Street in Collingwood, run by cohealth, was due to open by Tuesday but construction delays mean it won't be ready until the end of November.
The not-for-profit community health service will continue to operate a six-bed trial site on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy and mobile vans until the expanded site opens.
Ms Stitt defended only four of 10 mobile vans being up and running by Tuesday.
"These are big reforms," she said.
"We have been building this health response over the last few months so I'm confident we will have enough support in place tomorrow and the weeks going forward."
Cohealth unveiled pink uniforms and branded vans to distinguish its outreach workers from navy-clad police and emergency service workers.
Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation will operate outreach services across Melbourne, Frankston and Wyndham for First Nations people, as well as a dedicated sobering up centre in St Kilda.
Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Mildura, Swan Hill, Latrobe and East Gippsland have been identified as key areas of need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Nonetheless, the only regional "place of safety" for First Nations ready to go is in Shepparton.
The Victorian government committed to decriminalising public drunkenness at the start of an inquest into the 2017 death of Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day.
She was arrested for being drunk in a public place and died after hitting her head in a concrete cell at Castlemaine Police Station.
A coroner found her death was preventable.
Ms Stitt acknowledged the reforms were a direct result of the advocacy of Aunty Day's family and recommendations from a royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody more than three decades ago.
Victoria is the second last state to transition to a health-based response to public intoxication.
