Melbourne Cup Day · Victoria
Yes, in Victoria — Melbourne Cup Day is Tuesday 3 November 2026
A public holiday across Victoria except in twelve regional areas whose councils moved it to a local day, among them Warrnambool, Moyne, Greater Geelong and Wodonga. Melbourne Cup Day is not a public holiday in any other state or territory. It is in 10 days.
As of Saturday 24 October 2026, Melbourne time.
Tuesday
3November 2026
Melbourne Cup Day 2026
in 10 days- Melbourne Cup Day 2026
- Tuesday 3 November 2026
- Melbourne Cup Day 2027
- Tuesday 2 November 2027
- Melbourne Cup Day 2028
- Tuesday 7 November 2028
- Where it is a public holiday
- Victoria, except the twelve areas below
Where it is not a public holiday: the councils that moved it
In 2026, twelve areas across ten regional councils took a local day instead, such as their own show or race day. In these places Tuesday 3 November 2026 is a working day (in Warracknabeal and district, until noon), and the day below is the public holiday. Everywhere else in Victoria, including all of metropolitan Melbourne, the Tuesday stands.
| Their day instead | Where |
|---|---|
| Thu 7 May | the City of Warrnambool |
| Thu 7 May | the Shire of Moyne |
| Fri 2 Oct | Murtoa and district (Yarriambiack Shire) |
| Wed 7 Oct | the area west of and including Boinka, south of Murray Sunset National Park (Rural City of Mildura) |
| Thu 8 Oct half day, from 12pm | Warracknabeal and district (Yarriambiack Shire) |
| Tue 13 Oct | Rainbow, Albacutya and Kenmare (Hindmarsh Shire) |
| Thu 15 Oct | Broughton, Yanac, Netherby, Lorquon, Nhill, Glenlee, Kiata, Gerang Gerung and Little Desert (Hindmarsh Shire) |
| Wed 21 Oct | the City of Greater Geelong |
| Wed 21 Oct | the Numurkah District (Moira Shire) |
| Wed 28 Oct | the area west of the Campaspe River (City of Greater Bendigo) |
| Tue 3 Nov half day, from 12pm | Warracknabeal and district (Yarriambiack Shire) |
| Wed 4 Nov | postcodes 3444, 3446 and 3458 and the localities of Cadello and Carlsruhe (Macedon Ranges Shire) |
| Fri 27 Nov | the City of Wodonga |
Warracknabeal and district's day is split into two half-days: Thursday 8 October 2026 from 12pm and Tuesday 3 November 2026 from 12pm. In Yarriambiack Shire, Rural City of Mildura, Hindmarsh Shire, Moira Shire, City of Greater Bendigo and Macedon Ranges Shire, only the areas named moved it — the rest of each council's district keeps the Tuesday.
Where these come from
Every row is the Minister's declaration in the Victoria Government Gazette — the law itself — read notice by notice. The Victorian Government's own list, Business Victoria's "Melbourne Cup public holiday replacements", agrees, except that it leaves out Murtoa and district (Friday 2 October 2026) and Warracknabeal and district (Tuesday 3 November 2026, half day from 12pm). The Minister declares these at each council's request, most of them a year at a time, so if your council is not here and you live outside Melbourne, it is worth a check.
The notices: Victoria Government Gazette G 23 of 2021 (PDF), Wodonga, 2022 to 2026 · Victoria Government Gazette G 33 of 2024 (PDF), Macedon Ranges, 2025 to 2029 · Victoria Government Gazette G 44 of 2025 (PDF), Warrnambool · Victoria Government Gazette G 2 of 2026 (PDF), Greater Geelong · Victoria Government Gazette G 4 of 2026 (PDF), Moyne · Victoria Government Gazette G 15 of 2026 (PDF), Mildura, west of and including Boinka · Victoria Government Gazette G 24 of 2026 (PDF), Greater Bendigo west of the Campaspe; Murtoa and Warracknabeal; Wodonga, 2027 to 2031 · Victoria Government Gazette G 26 of 2026 (PDF), Numurkah · Victoria Government Gazette G 31 of 2026 (PDF), Hindmarsh. The list: Business Victoria, Victorian Government. Victoria's calendar feed carries every one of these days, with its area.
Race times in every state
The Victoria Racing Club had not published the Cup's own start time when this page last checked, on Thursday 8 October 2026. Its race-day page sets the program's opening and closing races, in Melbourne time (10:45 am and 5:15 pm); this table puts both in each state's own clock.
| Where | First race | Last race |
|---|---|---|
| NSW, VIC, TAS and the ACT | 10:45 am | 5:15 pm |
| SA | 10:15 am | 4:45 pm |
| QLD | 9:45 am | 4:15 pm |
| The NT | 9:15 am | 3:45 pm |
| WA | 7:45 am | 2:15 pm |
In each of 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 the Cup started at 3:00 pm Melbourne time, as Race 7 of the day — by the club's own race-day pages for 2025 (Half Yours), 2024 (Knight's Choice), 2023 (Without A Fight) and 2022 (Gold Trip). That is what happened in those years, not this year's time.
From the Victoria Racing Club's race-day page. Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, the ACT and South Australia are on daylight saving in November; Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia are not. Broken Hill, in New South Wales, keeps South Australia's time.
The rest of Australia
No other state or territory has a statewide public holiday on Tuesday 3 November 2026. Locally there is one, for another reason: the Collinsville Annual Show holiday in Collinsville district, Whitsunday region (QLD).
Shops, schools and pay
Shops may open as usual. Victoria restricts trading on Good Friday, Christmas Day and Anzac Day until 1pm only, and Melbourne Cup Day is not one of them.
Government schools follow the public holiday where the school is.
Pay follows the day that is the public holiday where you work: in an area that moved it, the local day is the holiday and the Tuesday is an ordinary day (in Warracknabeal and district, until noon). What working it pays is set by your award or agreement — this page dates the holiday and does not advise on pay.
Why a council can move it
Section 8A of the Public Holidays Act 1993 lets a council that is not in the Act's Schedule of metropolitan councils ask the Minister to declare that Melbourne Cup Day is not a public holiday in all or part of its district, and to appoint another day — or two half-days, one of which may be Cup Day — instead. The request has to be made at least 90 days before the Cup, and the Minister cannot appoint a Saturday or Sunday. The new day replaces the Tuesday rather than adding to it, and where it covers only part of a district it applies only there.
The 30 councils named in the Act's Schedule cannot ask. Every other date in Victoria's year, with the section each comes from, is on public holidays in Victoria.