Victoria’s state coroner is investigating the deaths of five residents at one of the aged-care homes linked to the state’s deadly coronavirus outbreak.

Judge John Cain has asked Victoria Police to compile evidence about the deaths at St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Fawkner, in Melbourne’s north.

Victoria has recorded more than 160 deaths from COVID-19, with at least 20 linked to St Basil’s.

The investigation is currently limited to five of those deaths.

As of Wednesday, 159 coronavirus cases were linked to St Basil’s, 84 of them residents.

The investigation comes as The Age newspaper reports elderly people – including some still infected with COVID-19 – will be returned to the home as early as this weekend under a repatriation plan being developed in conjunction with the federal government.

The coroner said the focus of his investigation would be determined once evidence was provided to the court.

St Basil’s management has been accused of failing to comply with a requirement to tell federal regulators of an outbreak.

Federal officials say they were not aware of an outbreak at St Basil’s until the state government notified them on July 14.

The home’s management has said state authorities were notified on July 9.

-AAP