CSU vice chancellor Professor Andrew Vann would not, however, confirm which campus had recorded the positive result, nor whether it was a student or teacher.

He said the student returned from Italy and went straight into isolation for several weeks with no contact made on campus.

"One case returned from overseas that we know about and they are in self-isolation," he said.

"There's also a few people who have been in contact with cases and some are getting tested."

Prof Vann said that with more than 40,000 students, it is likely more cases will be confirmed over time.

"We will publish them when we need to alert students or the community for contact tracing. Currently, no contact tracing is required," he said.

Around 10,000 of CSU's 43,000 enrolled students study on campus across the university's six campuses, however, all studies are now being moved online in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Prof Vann said plans to provide an ongoing education for all students during the coronavirus pandemic started months ago.

"We've been doing preparations for this critical incident since January," he said.

"We have to hope that what this does is get the rate of [COVID-19] spread steady."

CSU may already specialise in offering online courses, but Prof Vann said it had still been a big effort to move all courses online.

"We're running our final on-campus classes this week, but after that we'll be online for the rest of the semester," he said.

"So many of our students are in the online mode already so it's been easy for us to adapt."

Prof Vann said some lecturers are at home streaming classes to students, while others are still working from CSU campuses.

Finer details surrounding practical classes and tests was yet to be clarified.

"We've also got a lot of our hands-on aspects like nursing or dentistry so we'll have to work out how we catch that up," Prof. Vann said.

"We'll do everything we can to support them."

All gyms at CSU campuses are now closed and cafes will only serve takeaway food.

On campus libraries and learning commons will remain open with students asked to observe social distancing measures.

Those suffering acute, cold, flu-like symptoms who have recently returned from travelling or are a contact of a confirmed case are urged to be tested for the virus. To do this, call HealthDirect on 1800 0222 222 to be triaged and advised by a nurse over the phone. Alternatively, contact your GP to book an appointment and let them know in advance if you have symptoms - these might include fever, cough, runny nose or shortness of breath.