Late night liquor licences

Explore the liquor licence types that allow you to trade after 1 am.

Key features

A late night trading licence allows you to trade after 1 am with the same key features as a:

Read about the key features of these licence types, so you know which late-night version you need.

Trading hours

Late night (general) licence:

you apply for the hours you want to supply alcohol for customers to drink at your venue and we must approve them.
you can only supply alcohol to take away or drink away from your venue, footpath or kerbside until 11 pm.

Late night (on-premises) licence:

you apply for the hours you want to supply alcohol for customers to drink at your venue, including your kerbside area, and we must approve them.

Late night (packaged liquor) licence:

you apply for the hours you want to supply packaged alcohol for customers to drink away from your shop and we must approve them.

Apply at least 11 weeks before you need a licence. It may take longer if we need more information or if there are objections.

Who this licence suits

A late night (general) or late night (on-premises) licence may suit if you want to sell alcohol for customers to drink at your venue, including after 1 am.

A late night (packaged liquor) licence may suit if you want to sell packaged alcohol for customers to drink away from your location after 1 am.

Application fees

You need to pay a non-refundable application fee when you apply.

For a late night (general) or late night (on-premises) licence, if your venue capacity is:

zero to 200 customers, the fee is $1,260.80
201 to 400 customers, the fee is $1,386.80
401 or more customers, the fee is $2,269.40.

For a late night (packaged liquor) licence, if your floor space is:

zero to 750 square metres, the fee is $5,547.30
more than 750 square metres, the fee is $11,094.60.

Read about annual renewal fees.

Before you apply

Complete these steps before you start your application.

Open all

1Consider security requirements

Supplying alcohol late into the night can add to the risk of alcohol-related harms such as violence, harassment or unacceptable noise.

You may need to have extra measures in place to address these risks. For example:

security cameras (CCTV)
security guards (crowd controllers). Read about security in licensed venues to understand your obligations.

2Check council requirements

Contact the relevant local council to check if you need any planning permits for your venue.

You do not need a planning permit for your liquor licence, but you may need planning approval for other reasons.

3Complete or book training

Before you apply, as the applicant you must complete or be enrolled in:

new entrant training
Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) training. Before you start trading, any staff who serve alcohol must have a valid RSA certificate.

Find a list of approved training providers.

Additional training

If we grant a general (late night) or on-premises (late night) licence, you must complete advanced RSA training within 6 months of the licence grant.

4Check who can apply

Only an authorised person can apply for the licence. This depends on who is applying.

If you are applying as:

an individual, you must apply for the licence yourself (on the form this is called a ’natural person')
a company, a current director or someone the board has officially authorised to sign documents must apply
an incorporated association, an executive committee member must apply
a partnership, a partner must apply (partnerships can only be made up of individuals).

5Get your information ready – late night (general) or late night (on-premises)

Have these details and documents ready:

business name
trading hours
proof of required training – either a certificate of completion or booking confirmation
red line plan that shows where alcohol will be sold and consumed
maximum patron capacity (how many customers your venue can hold). Get this from your council planning permit, if it’s listed as a condition, or find out how to show it on your red line plan.
ASIC current and historical information extract (if applying as a company). The extract must be dated within the past 90 days. To buy one, search organisations and business names in the ASIC register. Make sure you have the correct document. We cannot process your application without it.
venue management plan, if you want to have live or amplified music.
credit card details – to pay the non-refundable application fee (Visa or Mastercard). The form will ask you to declare that you have the right to occupy the venue. You must have a property title, lease or other legal document that gives you the right.

You no longer need to upload a council planning permit with your application. Instead, upload the LCV new licence or permit planning document when the form asks for a planning permit. This is a temporary step until we update the form. You can upload a planning permit instead, if you have one.

LCV new licence or permit planning document PDF 112.91 KB (opens in a new window)

6Check extra requirements for inner-Melbourne venues

If you are applying for a late night (general) or late night (on-premises) licence, your application needs extra documents if your venue is located in the council areas of:

Melbourne
Port Phillip
Yarra
Stonnington. In addition to the above documents, you must also provide:
late night liquor licence supplementary form:

Late night liquor licence supplementary form PDF 397.43 KB (opens in a new window)

venue management plan, detailing how you will minimise the risk of harm from late night trading.
noise mitigation strategy, detailing how amenity and noise (including music) will be managed under Environment Protection Authority (EPA) regulations and guidelines relating to noise.
your history of compliance with liquor laws and EPA regulations relating to noise
gender-based violence prevention and response plan.

7Get your information ready – late night (packaged liquor)

Have these details and documents ready:

business name
trading hours
proof of required training – either a certificate of completion or booking confirmation
red line plan that shows where alcohol will be sold
floor space – total area where alcohol will be sold (in square metres)
alcohol management plan, if you will be delivering alcohol
ASIC current and historical information extract (if applying as a company). The extract must be dated within the past 90 days. To buy one, search organisations and business names in the ASIC register. Make sure you have the correct document. We cannot process your application without it.
community impact assessment, if your floor space is more than 750 square metres
credit card details – to pay the non-refundable application fee (Visa or Mastercard). The form will ask you to declare that you have the right to occupy the venue. You must have a property title, lease or other legal document that gives you the right.

LCV new licence or permit planning document PDF 112.91 KB (opens in a new window)

8Do your community impact assessment, if needed

You need to do a community impact assessment if:

you are applying for a late night (packaged liquor) licence
your floor space is more than 750 square metres. You must do this before you apply. Floor space includes areas of your business that customers can access, not including offices and storage areas.

Use the community impact assessment form:

Community impact assessment for a large packaged liquor outlet PDF 555.75 KB (opens in a new window)

Apply now

Complete the application form on the Service Victoria website.

It takes about 45 minutes to complete.

Get help with unfamiliar words and details in the application form.

Apply for a late night (general) or late night (on-premises) licence

Apply for a late night (packaged liquor) licence

After you apply

Service Victoria will email to acknowledge your application, including a receipt for your application fee.

Liquor Control Victoria will then review your application and email if we need more information. This may take a few weeks.

We send your application to Victoria Police and the relevant local council. This gives both a chance to object to your licence if they have concerns.

Victoria Police may contact you about your application.

Open all

Respond if we need more details

We will email you if:

your application has missing or incorrect details
we need additional information to help us assess your application. Make sure you respond to any request by the date we give in the email.

If you do not, we may refuse your application – you will lose your application fee.

Display your public notice

We’ll email you instructions on when and how to display your public notice for 28 days.

The notice lets the community know about your application and gives them a chance to have their say.

How to display your notice

When displaying the notice at your venue, you must:

use our public notice template

Public notice PDF 303.56 KB (opens in a new window)

place it where people walking past can easily see it
display it during the dates we tell you.

Submit your Statement of Display

After 28 days have passed, you must declare that you displayed the notice correctly and that the display period is now over.

To do this:

Complete this form:

Statement of display PDF 114.06 KB (opens in a new window)

Email the form to contact@liquor.vic.gov.au.

Submit your newspaper advert – late night (packaged liquor) only

If you applied for a late night (packaged liquor) licence, we’ll email you with instructions on when and how to submit your newspaper advert.

The advert lets the community know about your application and gives them a chance to have their say.

You must advertise:

in a physical or online newspaper that circulates in the same local area as your venue or Victoria-wide.
on the dates we specify in our email
using the template in our guidelines:

Guidelines for advertising packaged liquor licence applications PDF 63.67 KB (opens in a new window)

Respond to any objections

After your public notice goes up, the community has 30 days to object to your application.

They must explain how the licence could negatively affect the area’s amenity – for example, noise or disruption to their quiet enjoyment of living there.

Victoria Police and the local council may also object to the licence.

If we receive any valid objections, we’ll contact you to respond.

For example, if someone raises a concern about noise, you could explain how you plan to manage it.

We’ll take this into account when we assess your application.

When you get your decision

It can take about 9 to 11 weeks to get your decision.

It may take longer if someone objected to your licence or we needed to ask for more information.

Open all

If we grant your licence

We email to advise that we are granting your licence.

The email tells you how to sign up to our Liquor Portal.

It’s important that you register. It’s where you can:

access your annual renewal notice
download a copy of your licence and red line plan
manage your notifications
update contact details and other actions. Find out how to manage your licence.

Complete advanced training

If we granted a late night (general) or late night (on-premises) licence, you must complete advanced RSA training within 6 months of the licence grant.

Stay compliant

Be aware of your obligations under the law and as a licensee.

There are serious penalties if you do not comply.

Find out how to stay compliant.

If we refuse your licence

We will email to advise that we are refusing the licence, including reasons for our decision.

If you want to appeal the decision

You can appeal the:

decision to grant or refuse the licence
details of the licence, for example, the licence conditions or red line plan.

When to appeal

You must appeal within 28 days of receiving the licence decision.

How to appeal

Complete the internal review application form. It has details on the reasons for appeals we can accept.

Internal review application PDF 1.53 MB (opens in a new window)

Send the form to us either by:

Email: secretariat@liquor.vic.gov.au
Mail: Liquor Control Victoria GPO Box 4356 MELBOURNE VIC 3001

We will email you with next steps. This may take a few weeks.

Jobs, work and business

Updated 15 December 2025

Economic Growth Statement

Mini vic.gov.au

Late night liquor licences

On this page

Key features

Trading hours

Who this licence suits

Application fees

Before you apply

Additional training

Apply now

After you apply

How to display your notice

Submit your Statement of Display

When you get your decision

Complete advanced training

Stay compliant

When to appeal

How to appeal

About the VIC Government

Grants and programs

Jobs and careers

Arts, culture and heritage

Business and the workplace

Communities

Education and training

Environment, water and energy

Finance and economy

Housing and property

Law and justice

Safety and emergencies

Science and technology

Sport and recreation

Traffic and transport

Working in the Victorian Government