More than 80 people have received support for their drinking habits on the first night of Victoria's switch to a health-led approach to public drunkenness.
Outreach teams in the Melbourne and Yarra local government areas recorded most of the demand after the state's new law to decriminalise being drunk in public came into effect on Tuesday.
Under the changes, the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service will operate a 24/7 phone service to triage and dispatch help to intoxicated people.
Staffed by 29 call-takers from across the state, the service will also provide non-clinical advice to outreach teams and sobering centre staff.
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 person does not want help, the person may be left alone if deemed safe to do so.
The majority of people referred following the Melbourne Cup public holiday were provided with hot or cold drinks, offers of support or further assistance to get home or to a safe place.
Five people were supported at sobering centres.
"From all reports everything has gone according to plan," Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas told reporters on Wednesday.
The centralised phone service was used twice overnight, including by a police officer and a tram driver concerned about intoxicated people in the CBD at 12am and 1.20am.
The centralised service was able to send outreach services to assist the people on both occasions.
Community health organisation cohealth operated four of its 10 vans and a six-bed trial sobering-up centre on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy.
The not-for-profit organisation's 20-bed sobering up centre on Cambridge Street in Collingwood was due to open by Tuesday but construction delays mean it won't be ready until the end of the month.
