Laws were passed last year requiring a qualified and registered nurse on site in every residential home at all times.
The change was one of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
Aged Care Minister Anika Wells on Thursday released the first month of data, which showed 86 per cent of facilities had a nurse on site 24/7.
"The Albanese government is delivering on its commitment to get nurses back into nursing homes," she told reporters in Canberra.
"There is more work to do ... but on our watch older Australians will, for the first time in our nation's history, have an aged care sector that they can trust."
The figures showed that, on average, there is a registered nurse on site in aged care homes 98 per cent of the time.
Ms Wells said she was "enormously heartened" by the results, and expected to hit 100 per cent "as soon as possible".
On average, there is a registered nurse on site in aged care homes for 23.5 hours a day.
The opposition last year described the bill as "rushed", but did not stand in the way of the reforms.
Government modelling released last year showed an extra 869 registered nurses were needed to meet the new requirement of around-the-clock care.
Residents in aged care facilities were promised an average of 200 care minutes, including 40 nursing minutes, each day by October.
Ms Wells said the department was reaching out to facilities that were unable to meet the requirements, to check what support they needed.
She said there was a "human element" to the issue, due to the large number of women making up the workforce, balancing their paid employment against unpaid work, including caring for children.
"That's the nature of the care economy and that's why we've tried to be not punitive but supportive in trying to lift everybody up to the standard," Ms Wells said.
Asked if the government would set new deadlines to get younger people out of aged care facilities, she said it was still working on the recommendations of the royal commission.
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