But with positive movements on that front on the mainland, with minimal crowds set to feature at Saturday night's Showdown in Adelaide and in Sydney on Sunday as the competition resumes, there is some light at the end of the tunnel in that regard for Hawthorn and North Melbourne's wishes that their contracts with the state are fulfilled.

But, as Gutwein pointed out on Thursday, the main stumbling block will still be the state's border control measures in place due to COVID-19, with the whole process one that the government will step through "sensibly and responsibly".

The state's travel restrictions are due to be reviewed in July.

"I've had a positive conversation this morning with [AFL chief executive] Gil McLachlan and obviously they are looking at mapping out their season for the coming weeks and as we work through the lifting of restrictions I have once again reiterated to him that we are obviously very keen to understand where Tasmania might sit in this,'' he said on Thursday.

"It's obviously important in terms of the timeframe on our borders and whether or not teams can travel here and that is the first hurdle we need to overcome and secondly, as I have said quite clearly, I can't see the value of playing games in Tasmania if we can't get crowds.

"National cabinet is meeting tomorrow and we will obviously be discussing a range of matters in terms of restrictions moving forward and I am hoping there would be an opportunity for games to be played here in Tasmania later in the season.

"Things are moving quite quickly in terms of crowd numbers [in the AFL], but again we are working through a process and I don't want to get in front of myself or the state to get in front of itself."

Gutwein said the government would continue to work "positively" with the league, Hawthorn and North Melbourne on the matter.

"But as I've said before, I can't see any value in AFL being played in front of empty stadiums, but with restrictions being lifted it might be possible to have crowds of a suitable number, but importantly we need to deal with the question of the border first,'' he said.

The state government pays around $8 million for the Hawks to play four games in Launceston and North four in Hobart, although any games hosted by the Kangaroos in 2020 won't be at Blundstone Arena as that won't be set up for football.

Gutwein also said he was expecting to have further conversations with NBL owner Larry Kestelman "some time soon" with the government "ready to go" when it came to the Derwent Entertainment Centre upgrade.

"As I have said quite clearly on this I want a good deal for Tasmania and I want to be certain if we do the upgrade of the DEC that we will have a team delivered for next season [2021-22],'' he said.

He was also confident of the overall viability of the NBL post the COVID-19 shutdown.

"I'd have to say with the conversations I've had with Mr Kestelman is that he is very positive about the future and when the crowds come back they will have a cracker of a season later this year on the basis crowds do come back,'' he said.

"But they are the steps we need to work through, we need to understand where the virus is in our community, and that's not just the Tasmanian community but across the country and obviously the discussions we will have at national cabinet over the coming weeks in terms of the lifting and the easing of restrictions will be important not just for the NBL, but a range of sporting codes."

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