A trip to fast food outlet McDonalds has ended badly for three hungry mates who copped a $5000 fine for breaching stay-at-home rules amid the deadly pandemic.

The hefty fine is not the first at Melbourne’s takeaway outlets after a large group of partygoers were fined $26,000 on July 10 for making a mad dash to KFC for buckloads of fast food.

Parademics spotted two people ordering 20 KFC meals about 1.30am and were reported to police to later arrived at a house in Dandenong where they found 16 people hiding out the back.

There are only four reasons to leave home during the six-week lockdown in Greater Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire and visiting friends at different addresses and travelling to fast-food outlets together isn’t one of them.

During the past 24 hours, police have handed out 79 fines to individuals caught disobeying Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton’s directions to behave during COVID-19, the force confirmed on Tuesday.

Besides the McDonalds dash, another seven people were fined at a short-term rental apartment in Melbourne’s CBD, after having plans to party there for two nights.

Two Frankston residents were fined for staying in Murtoa, more than 300 kilometres from home, with no valid reason for travel.

Of the 79 fines issued, 23 were for not wearing a face mask in public, which attracts a $200 fine.

Five fines were issued at vehicle checkpoints out of the 21,481 vehicles inspected on main arterial roads in the state.

Police conducted 4618 spot checks at homes, businesses and public places in the past 24 hours, boosting the total checks since March 21 to 175,472.