Newcastle and 11 other NRL teams will relocate to south-east Queensland for the next month to minimise risk of the competition being potentially shut down by the growing COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney.

All 10 NSW teams, as well as the Warriors and Canberra, will be installed in dedicated hubs by Wednesday and play games out of Suncorp Stadium, Cbus Stadium or Sunshine Coast Stadium.

The three Queensland clubs, along with Melbourne, will continue to be based and play home games out of their current home cities.

The NRL was finalising arrangements with the Queensland government to ensure every club has access to appropriate facilities.

Each club will be permitted a maximum of 41 players and staff while in Queensland and will travel north on chartered flights. Families will reportedly be eventually able to join players and staff in their hubs.

A revised schedule with the location of games for the next four rounds will be released in coming days.

The Knights were set to play Melbourne (away), Sydney Roosters (away), Canberra (home) and Brisbane (home) over the next month.

News that they might lose home games will be a further disappointment for Knights fans, coming just 24 hours after Newcastle was denied an opportunity to host Origin III because of coronavirus fears.

Just days after hailing Newcastle as a rugby league "heartland" and a deserved venue to host an Origin match, the NRL was forced to abandon plans to stage the series finale at McDonald Jones Stadium, switching it to the Gold Coast on state government advice.

The NRL announced last week it was moving Origin III from Stadium Australia to Newcastle because of Sydney's lockdown.

It was initially hoped a crowd of 75 per cent capacity - about 20,000 - would be able to attend the match, and tickets were to go on sale from Monday.

But the NRL backflipped on Saturday night after the state government advised that the health risk of staging a major event in Newcastle was too great and hence no spectators would be permitted to attend the game.

After an emergency phone hook-up, the NRL transferred Wednesday's fixture to Robina's CBus Stadium, where they are hoping for a capacity crowd of 27,000.

It will be the first time in Origin history that an entire series been played in the same state, after Queensland's losses in Townsville (50-6) and Brisbane (26-0).

The news will disappoint thousands of staunch Novocastrian supporters, who were excited about what was likely to be one-off opportunity to attend an Origin match in their own backyard.

Given that there have been no positive tests recorded in Newcastle or the Hunter since the latest Sydney outbreak began, many fans will query why it could not staged at McDonald Jones Stadium, in front of a crowd comprising residents of the region.

But support for the game has not been unanimous, amid fears spectators might illegally travel from hot-spot areas.

One Newcastle Herald reader summed up such sentiments in "Short Takes" on Saturday, describing Origin III as "an unacceptable risk" to our region, and adding: "The game should be cancelled immediately."

Before the day was out, it had been.

Less than a week after ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys declared: "I'd love to take it [Origin] to Newcastle because it's rugby league heartland and we'd love to reward the supporters up there because they deserve it", NRL chief executive Andrew was explaining the 11th-hour switch.

"We are disappointed not to be able to give Newcastle the city's first State of Origin, but we must operate within all state public health orders and not having a crowd in Newcastle negates the opportunity for our fans from the region,'' Abdo said.

"The Gold Coast has a very low infection rate and both Origin camps are currently located within driving distance of Cbus Stadium ...

"It does mean all three games are played in Queensland, but our priority is ensuring the safety of the community and the continuity of the competition."

The next potential step for the NRL will be to relocate a host of teams, including the nine based in Sydney, to regional hubs in a bid to keep the club competition running.

V'landys said on Sunday that moving teams to temporary bases was "very much on the cards".

Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson said teams will "have to be adaptable".