Outreach staff have been stretched thin between the remote communities around Katherine, and the centre - overflowing with women needing an escape - is being forced to find alternative accommodation for its clients.

The 25 bed centre takes in more than 450 women and their children every year, but COVID-19 restrictions and staffing levels have put a strain on the service's ability to provide the usual level of care.

"This means that women can be left with mental health issues as depression and anxiety are not dealt with," Chief Executive of the Katherine Women's Crisis Centre, Jo Gamble said.

"Women are more likely to go back to their perpetrator, and they are more fearful because they don't have the same level of care.

"We're putting people in alternative accommodation more than ever before."

Ms Gamble said the crisis centre, operating on a thin margin most years anyway despite five year funding commitments from the NT Government, is short four staff, following the departure of an outreach worker, two support staff and the crisis accommodation coordinator.

"This work has a lifespan of four to five years. It is shift work that is rostered," Ms Gamble said.

"People had come to the end of their run, and we haven't had any luck replacing them yet."

In a town where rates of domestic violence rival anywhere else in Australia, Ms Gamble says she is concerned women and children's lives are at risk.

"Domestic violence kills people. People actually lose their life and it can happen in one instance, in one incident," she said.

"So we don't ever turn women away. If they were to contact us and we said 'no' the things that could happen are too horrible to think about."

Currently, women who have accessed the service could be waiting up to four days before their case is properly assessed.

And women living in the remote communities of Binjari, Rockhole, Warlpiri, and Werenbun could go days without seeing an outreach worker.

In the small remote community of Binjari, 18km south-west of Katherine, domestic violence "never stops", according to Debra Aloisi.

She is the Chief Executive of Binjari Community Aboriginal Corporation, which looks after the small population of about 300, according to the last census.

"We've had brutal attacks here," she said.

"Three men have been banned from the community for life because they've put women into the ICU."

She said police officers are called to the community multiple times a week with women reporting grievous attacks.

"They offer to take the women to the crisis centre, or they take the men away. But the women always come back. They have children, and they don't have anywhere else to go."

Despite the community's a strict ban on alcohol, Ms Aloisi says it is the biggest contributor to the issue.

"If it was strictly controlled, we wouldn't have a problem," she said.

In growing numbers, women are being referred to the crisis centre by police and hospital staff.

According to Ms Gamble women in even larger numbers are seeking out the service themselves. But they can only stay for so long.

The crisis centre has just five units, each with five beds.

"Katherine needs transitional housing for women escaping domestic violence, and a purpose-built crisis centre," Ms Gamble said.

"One of our units could be taken up by a woman and her five kids. We just don't have enough space."

As women exit the service, they are faced with few choices.

Wait lists for government housing in Katherine leave people in limbo for years, and moving in with other family members is not always an option.

"The majority of women end up returning to their perpetrators," Ms Gamble said.

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