"Our advice at the moment is to push ahead as planned and round one will go ahead with supporters but I think we take note of what was said today."
Sporting events have also been completely cancelled in high-risk countries like Italy.
The AFL earlier told club chiefs they had begun cutting costs and discretionary spending in anticipation of the drop in revenue they will already inevitably suffer as a consequence of the coronavirus.
A working party has been formed to develop contingency plans for the AFL with McLachlan adding that the league’s future fund would help them cover the financial damage of playing in crowd-less stadia.
The AFL has modelled the financial impact of having no crowds at games but McLachlan would not say how much cancelling a typical round of football would cost.
“Our first priority is to do everything we can to keep the community safe and well,” he said.
McLachlan said the league would take advice from all states and federal governments and health bodies before making decisions.
A Victorian government ban on mass gatherings would only obviously affect AFL matches in this state but McLachlan anticipated that such a decision would be co-ordinated among governments or be taken by the federal government.
“The Andrews government has led today I am sure we will hear from other state and federal government at some point.
“I think you have to take it on a case by case basis,this is evolving quickly but we will work with relevant authorities in the relevant states. We intend to play every game this season and we will continue to make decisions we need to to get that done.”
He was uncertain yet what a “mass gathering” might refer to and thus whether there would be a similar impact on state league games.
The definition of mass gathering varies between countries,states and territories with McLachlan citing Switzerland as an example of where a mass gathering is anything more than 1000 people.
In the unlikely event of games being called off,the AFL Players Association view is that players on guaranteed contracts - in which they are paid an annual salary,regardless of how many games they play - would not lose any money.
But the player union said that players who had a base salary plus match payments - a group that includes all first- and second-year players - would lose match payments from the games that were cancelled.
Meanwhile Richmond joined Greater Western Sydney inclosing off access to visitors to their football departments and club front office as a precaution due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Tigers confirmed on Tuesday that they had decided to"minimise"visitors,especially to the football department,as part of a response to the potential spread of the virus.
Richmond,like the Giants,have a relatively high volume of visitors,with an Indigenous learning centre at Punt Road and a large array of community activities that routinely bring groups and individuals to the club.
Richmond felt that it was easier to close off the visitors,rather than quiz individuals on their recent travels overseas.
MCG chief executive Stuart Fox said the ground was still planning around all major events going ahead.
With Peter Ryan