Australian Open spectator limit increased to 65 percent for remainder of event

The Australian Open will have its spectator capacity lifted to 65 percent for the rest of the event, up from 50 percent at the start of the two weeks.

The change was announced by various state government officials.

Ticket capacity had been previously restricted to 50 percent on Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena, but only for sessions that had yet to reach that level when the measures were announced—no tickets were canceled.

Consequently, the new limit is unlikely to have a substantial effect on the amount of fans in the stands for most of the final few rounds. But one session that could be much fuller is Thursday's men's doubles semifinal, which features Australians Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis against Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers—a contest that's been moved to Rod Laver Arena. Another Australian, Dylan Alcott, will also play the men's quad wheelchair final on that court following the doubles match.

Other sessions were already substantially full even prior to the increased capacity limits.

"When they first announced the 50 percent capacity leading into the event, we had already sold tickets [for] the finals this week to 80, 90 percent capacity," Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley told the Australian TV program 'Today.'

The tournament usually has an attendance of more than 800,000 spectators with no restrictions.