The major supermarket chains have reported a slowing down of demand, with business returning to “somewhere near normal”.

“I’m pleased to report that certainly the shopping through our supermarket business has returned somewhere towards normal, and that’s allowed the teams, with all the hard work they’re putting in, to get stock back into the system,” Coles chief operating officer Matt Swindells told the Today show.

Swindells admits there’s still a long way to go before shelves are fully restocked.

“Anybody that has shopped over the weekend would see the gaps on shelves are still there and so we’ve got to continue this process of normalised demand, pushing more stock than ever, to put the supermarkets back together,” Swindells said.

Woolworths and Coles are working with the government in regards to logistics, following the announcement that Tas, NT, Qld, WA and SA have closed their borders. Woolworths managing director, Claire Peters, has confirmed that this will not affect grocery supplies.

“The good news is we’ve been working very closely with the government and all the state Premiers, so we don’t see any concern with being able to get supply or freight into any of the borders due to the support that we are getting,” she said.

“Clearly our supply chain is essential to restocking of the shelves. So we are able to do that across all borders in Australia.”

Who knows, we may even see toilet paper, hand towels and mince return to the shelves sometime soon.