Landholders downstream were expecting releases of up to 20,000 Ml/day, which would create inundation of some lower level farmland.
However on Thursday afternoon, G-MW announced it was maintaining releases at 17,000 Ml/day.
The latest news on storage releases is expected at 9am on Friday.
“We are continually monitoring conditions and will make changes as required,” G-MW said on Thursday.
Up until Thursday, the releases had been made through the Eildon hydro station, but on Thursday afternoon, the releases were made through the spillway gates.
G-MW said the release rates downstream of the Eildon Pondage will not change — some of the water that was being passed through the hydro station will simply be released through the gates instead.
“The gates are being opened to allow the lake to surcharge, meaning the storage temporarily goes above full capacity.”
G-MW advised late Thursday that Eildon had exceeded full supply level.
The last time this level had been reached was in December and October last year.
G-MW river operations manager Andrew Shields said dams were designed to take water levels higher than the crest of a spillway for short periods of time.
Full supply level is about 300mm below the top of the gates, which sit on top of the spillway.
Mr Shields said exceeding the full supply level by modest margins was not a safety issue.
Prior to last year, Eildon had not exceeding 100 per cent of capacity since the 1990s.
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