Zac Tankard, the solicitor director at Tankard's Law, said his first piece of advice for anyone hit with a public health breach infringement notice was to write down what happened.

"Write down the exact situation as it unfolded and write down a few details about your life," he said.

"Speak to Legal Aid, a private solicitor or even a chamber magistrate about what your next step should be."

Mr Tankard explained that COVID fines work the same as any other on-the-spot fine, and residents can seek an internal review through Revenue NSW.

They have three outcomes where either the penalty will stand, they will issue a caution but revoke the fine, or cancel it altogether.

"The criteria that would allow an internal review like that would be pretty strict and you would very likely be unsuccessful," Mr Tankard said. "You can elect to have the fine dealt with at court."

Mr Tankard said the advantage of going to court is that while the penalty might still stand, it could be reduced to a lower amount if the magistrate considered personal circumstances.

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"You are allowed to put in your earning capacity and the reason why you say there should be some sort of reduction," he said.

"The negative when you go to court is you might have to pay for a lawyer and lawyers are expensive, or if you decide to do it yourself, you may still have court costs on top of that, which is $170-odd.

"The court doesn't have to keep the fine amount and they could well increase the amount."

Mr Tankard warned anyone considering this route that they only have a short period to contest the fine or elect to take it court.

One Wagga resident, who wished to remain anonymous, is considering appealing the fine due to the belief it was handed down unfairly.

She explained that she was with her child and husband exercising around the lake when they decided to get takeaway on the way home.

They tried calling ahead, but no one answered, so the family was told it would be a 40-minute wait when they arrived.

"I had just started back from work after coming off maternity leave during which I was dealing with post-natal depression and anxiety," the woman said.

"Because of my anxiety and the fact my child could not sit in the car for 40 minutes, and my husband did not want to leave me alone, we decided to do some shopping. We had no idea about the rule that only one person per household can go to the shops."

Outside the shop, a police officer approached the family and issued them both $1000 fines as they tried to explain the situation.

"I have never even gotten a speeding ticket and this was so horrible, and we were being interrogated in front of my two-year-old," the woman said.

"We didn't go out of our way to break the rules. They are just so confusing ... it's already tough for families in the pandemic to then add a $2000 penalty on top."

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