Almost seven times more Australian spouses were researching separation by the conclusion of Victoria's COVID-19 second wave than before the onset of the pandemic, according to divorce research data.
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The proportion of Australians researching separation and divorce who reside in Victoria also jumped sharply through the second half of 2020.
Divorce information network The Separation Guide said the number of Australians using its platform to research separation and divorce was 582 per cent higher in October 2020 than in January 2020.
The period coincides with the emergence of COVID-19, prompting Australia-wide lockdowns across March and April and widespread job losses.
This was followed by the COVID-19 second wave in Victoria, which forced the state's residents indoors for 112 days between July and October 2020 as case numbers slowly declined.
At the start of the pandemic, some 20 per cent of participants in The Separation Guide's divorce questionnaire were from Victoria.
By December 2020, that number had risen to 30 per cent.
The Separation Guide co-founder Angela Harbinson told AAP that living in close proximity with partners and family members during lockdown - with little respite - had taken its toll on relationships.
Relationship problems became much more difficult to mask.
"People are not used to spending 24/7 with their families, as much as we love them ... being on holidays with your family is a completely different scenario to being with them all the time," Ms Harbinson said.
Financial strife prompted by COVID-19 lockdowns, notwithstanding significant government and bank support, also played a major role in increasing stress levels.
Ms.Harbison said more people were going online to privately research separation and divorce, before even talking to their partner.
She said people were particularly keen to learn how to have conversations with children about separation, how to remain on good terms with ex-partners and how to communicate openly.
The Separation Guide data comes after a May 2020 survey by Relationships Australia that found 42 per cent of people experienced a negative change in relations with their partner amid the COVID-19 first wave.
More than half of respondents also felt "challenged" by their living arrangements at the time, and almost half reported feeling lonely.
Relationships Australia national executive officer Nick Tebbey told AAP that demand for its services had remained steady throughout 2020, and could spike as government supports are wound back in 2021.
"It's going to be the economic repercussions of what COVID-19 has done to us as a country, an economy, and the impact that's had," Mr Tebbey said.
"Financial uncertainty is a huge cause of stress in relationships and so it doesn't take much to connect the dots there."
In Australia's no-fault divorce system, partners must be living separately and apart for at least 12 months before applying for a permanent split.
The Separation Guide also compiled data showing the number of separated Australian couples ready to "settle" their divorce had almost doubled from January 2020 to December 2020, jumping 87 per cent.
This may have been due to a hesitancy to act as the pandemic raged.
The Federal Circuit Court received almost 46,000 divorce applications in 2019-20, and more than 27,000 applications to date in 2020-21. All such divorces would have derived from pre-pandemic separations.
Australian Associated Press
