The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research issued a report on Wednesday into how police breach notices correlated with Greater Sydney residents' self-reported behaviour while stay-at-home orders were in place.

The report found people under the age of 30 had been more compliant with the state's public health orders but had attracted the lion's share of fines.

The study's authors concluded that the allocation of breach notices and fines was driven largely by the nature of police enforcement rather than reflecting underlying patterns of non-compliance.

BOCSAR used data from a Department of Communities and Justice survey of 1028 Greater Sydney residents about their behaviour over two weeks in early September, when case numbers in Sydney were peaking at between 1200 and 1600 a day.

Many people in regional communities, including politicians and, in some cases, public health officials, argued at the time that the NSW government's travel rules were too permissive.

The self-reported survey data showed one in 15 Sydney people, or 6.6 per cent, had travelled into regional NSW without a valid reason in the previous fortnight.

Non-compliance with regional travel rules was higher, at 9.5 per cent, in those aged over 30 than in those aged 16 to 30, at 5.7 per cent.

Of those who admitted travelling illegally into the regions, 20 per cent had done so "a lot", 48.5 per cent "sometimes" and 30.9 per cent "only when necessary".

People over 30 were also more likely than younger people to break rules about visiting family or friends (17 to 12.8 per cent), venue check-ins (37.5 to 24.4 per cent), mask wearing (25.7 to 21.7 per cent) and almost every other restriction.

But the BOCSAR analysis of crime data showed people aged under 30 attracted 46.2 per cent of breach notices.

Similarly, residents in 11 local government areas of concern, where rules were tighter, were more compliant yet attracted a higher proportion of fines per capita than elsewhere in Sydney and the rest of the state.

Half of those fined had been proceeded against by police for an offence in the previous five years.

Police issued almost 37,000 public health order breach notices over two months from June 26 to August 31. Nine out of 10 resulted in a fine, almost 90 per cent of which were for $1000.

Most of the breach notices related to unnecessary movement outside a local government area and visiting other households.

"The high volume of breaches and the heavy penalties that these offences attract will present a significant burden for some sections of the community who are already vulnerable," BOCSAR said in the report.

"The longer-term impact of this enforcement activity should therefore be the subject of continued monitoring and public scrutiny."

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