Skip to content
WayBeacon Home

Work and rest hours

Australia does not have one set of driving hours. It has three.

The Heavy Vehicle National Law never commenced in Western Australia or the Northern Territory. A driver crossing at Eucla changes regime, not just time zone. Pick where you are and the limits below change with you.

Choose your jurisdiction

Standard hours

Heavy Vehicle (Fatigue Management) National Regulation, Schedule 1 Table 1

Each bar is a window, not a stage of your shift. They all start wherever the counting starts, and they overlap. The amber is the work ceiling; the rest of the bar is what has to be rest.

  • In any 5.5 hours

    5.25h work ceiling

    At least 15 minutes of rest, 15 continuous minutes.

  • In any 8 hours

    7.5h work ceiling

    At least 30 minutes of rest, in blocks of at least 15 continuous minutes.

  • In any 11 hours

    10h work ceiling

    At least 1 hour of rest, in blocks of at least 15 continuous minutes.

  • In any 24 hours

    12h work ceiling

    At least 7 hours of rest, 7 continuous hours of stationary rest.

  • In any 168 hours

    72h work ceiling

    At least 24 hours of rest, 24 continuous hours of stationary rest.

Two states change the rules without changing the numbers

Six jurisdictions apply the same Law, and none of them moves a figure in the table above. Two of them change something you can act on.

New South Wales: you can rest in the seat
Time in the driver's seat with the engine running counts as rest, not work, if the vehicle is stationary, you are free of work demands, and it runs at least 15 minutes. Everywhere else the same stop is work time. Heavy Vehicle National Law (NSW) s 248A.
Victoria: two kinds of bus driver are out
Chapter 6 does not reach a driver running a rail replacement bus during a rail disruption, a bus driver responding to an emergency, or their record keeper. Heavy Vehicle National Law Application Act 2013 (Vic) s 7.

Counting it while you drive

WayBeacon's break planner applies whichever of these regimes matches where you are, and names the law on screen so you can check it. It is a planning aid, not a work diary, and it only knows the trip on this device. The multi-day totals are yours to keep.

In the app this regime is labelled NHVR standard hours.

Open the break planner

Where these numbers come from

  • Heavy Vehicle National Law s 249 lets the national regulations set the hours; it states none itself. Heavy Vehicle (Fatigue Management) National Regulation s 5(1)(a) points at Schedule 1 Table 1, current as at 1 August 2026.
  • Transport Co-ordination Act 1966 (WA) s 48 and s 33(2), consolidated version 09-l0-00. Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022 (WA) reg 184B, version 00-n0-00.
  • Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011 (NT) s 19. The Motor Vehicles Act 1949, Traffic Act 1987, Motor Vehicles Regulations 1977, Motor Vehicles (Standards) Regulations 2003 and the NT work health and safety regulations were each read; none prescribes driving hours.
  • This page covers solo drivers under standard hours. Two-up, Basic and Advanced Fatigue Management, bus drivers and work and rest hours exemptions all have different limits and are not shown.