The postponed Supercars round has firmed for May 20-22, dates currently assigned to an event at Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria.

The Newcastle Herald understands Supercars will shift the Winton round, potentially a few weeks forward, in order to squeeze Newcastle into its season calendar.

The Newcastle 500 was due to be held on March 4-6 but was postponed in January due to concerns about the number of COVID cases in the region.

City of Newcastle CEO Jeremy Bath said at the time he expected to bring new event dates to this month's council meeting, but the agenda released last week made no mention of the race.

However, a councillor memo obtained by the Herald suggests the new dates will be a late item on Tuesday's agenda.

Mr Bath did not reference the dates but told councillors on Saturday "based on conversations Friday ... I hope to have a date for you Monday".

The May dates are somewhat surprising given many expected the event to revert to a season-ending round later this year, the time of the year the three events the city has previously hosted were held.

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A Sydney round also moved from later in the year to replace the original Newcastle dates, opening a hole in the calendar.

Mr Bath told councillors locking in a date this week would allow the street circuit to be built and removed more quickly.

"Receiving approval for a date in February will provide Supercars the required time to make the arrangements to deliver a five-week bump in consistent with commitments for the previously scheduled March date," he said.

"However should the decision on a date not be made for a further month then it is likely to be insufficient to secure the contractors with the necessary experience to deliver the abbreviated bump in."

Supercars said on Sunday talks with stakeholders were ongoing, while Mr Bath said he was confident that "early this week Supercars, Destination NSW and myself will agree on a new date".

"We're aware that this date needs to be decided before Tuesday night when the elected council next meet. If this date is missed then the next opportunity for the council to consider a date is in four weeks' time," he said.

"The Newcastle 500 was originally scheduled to run in March however was postponed at the start of the year due to the then extremely high number of covid infections in the community.

"Fortunately, it's now clear that the third wave of COVID peaked in early January and has been falling ever since.

"This will allow for the safe staging of the [event] in Newcastle this year."

The May dates are almost certain to be endorsed given Labor, which holds a majority on council, has always supported hosting a Supercars event in Newcastle.

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