He announced a ban on 100 people or more gathering indoors in the same setting, and raised the travel advice to Australians to level four for the rest of the world, meaning for the first time the government recommended its citizens not travel.

Mr Morrison also called for calm after supermarket shelves had been stripped bare across the country in recent weeks.

"On bulk purchasing of supplies - stop hoarding," he said.

At the exact same time as his announcement, shelves were being stripped bare across Orange as people descended on toilet paper, pasta, rice, paper towels, flour and sugar - among other things.

The Central Western Daily visited four supermarkets in the city centre on Wednesday after the Prime Minister's announcement to find servers in shock.

"It's the worst I've ever seen it," one said, while another said they hadn't seen panic like it since the depression in the 1980s.

Coles, Woolworths, Aldi and Ashcroft's IGA were all hit by a wave of shoppers from the time doors opened, and despite being re-stocked overnight many essentials were gone from shelves by late morning, directly contradicting the PM's message.

"I can't be more blunt about it. Stop it," Mr Morrison said.

"It is not sensible, it is not helpful and it has been one of the most disappointing things I have seen in Australian behaviour in response to this crisis.

"That is not who we are as a people. It is not necessary. It is not something that people should be doing.

"What it does is distract attention and efforts that need to be going into other measures, to be focusing on how we maintain supply chains into these shopping centres."

Harris Farm in Orange wasn't as badly hit, with shelves still well stocked around midday, but pensioner Max Gregory said his wife Fay had been refused service at the store when trying to pay in cash.

"They asked her if she had a card and she didn't, so they didn't take her cash, which I thought was still legal tender in this country," he said.

Mr Gregory said cashiers didn't say if it was for hygiene reasons, and the Orange store had no comment when contacted by the Central Western Daily on Wednesday.

Mr Gregory said the couple were pensioners and didn't use credit cards, and the current craze was making him "afraid".

"I'm at an absolute loss ... it's beyond the pale. I've never seen people going mad over toilet paper."

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