Thousands of people are without power, trees have been uprooted and beaches eroded after a wild weather system battered large parts of Australia's east coast.
The downpour was driven by a "vigorous" east coast low, which the Bureau of Meteorology predicts will move into the Tasman Sea on Thursday.
The "complex and rapidly deepening" system will bring rain, storms, windy conditions and elevated seas for the coming days.
Residents on Lord Howe Island, in the Tasman Sea east of Port Macquarie, have been warned to prepare, with waves hitting more than five metres.
Elsewhere, damaging winds with gusts up to 100km/h were expected to continue through Thursday morning around parts of northern NSW.
Nearly 4000 incidents have been reported to the NSW State Emergency Service since the weather event began on Monday.
The majority of incidents have involved fallen trees and powerlines, damaged properties and vehicles, as well as flood-related tasks, including 12 flood rescues.
"Thankfully in most areas across NSW, particularly the coastal fringe, the weather system has eased," SES Deputy Commissioner Debbie Platz.
"But we still have some damaging surf, we still have damaging winds that are out and about and some areas there is still some light rainfall."
The powerful winds will persist in parts of the Northern Rivers, Mid North Coast and Northern Tablelands on Thursday.
Ms Platz said with some rises in rivers, the focus will be on low-lying areas in the North Richmond area west of Sydney where the Hawkesbury River may peak at 4.5m as well as for communities along the Peel River near Tamworth.
As of Thursday, about 3000 Endeavour Energy customers were without electricity, down from a peak of 30,000, and Ausgrid reported more than 45,000 had power cuts with about 1650 still being worked on.
Some 2000 emergency personnel remain deployed across the state as they attend to the hundreds of requests pouring into.
"Over the past 24 hours, we have had 1400 calls for assistance and as people wake up, we expect those to rise," Ms Platz said.
There was good news for communities in Sanctuary Point and Burrill Lake near Jervis Bay after emergency warnings were downgraded overnight.
In nearby Sussex Inlet, Fay Brown was stranded when roads approaching the Badgee Bridge flooded.
Without a four-wheel drive, Ms Brown would have used a flood access road, but the local council continued a long-standing practice of blocking the road rather than allowing residential access.
"This happens every time we have heavy days of rain. I've lived here 11 years and been stuck on at least five occasions," she told AAP.
"Once we were stuck there for four days."
Meanwhile, water flowing out of Australia's largest urban water supply will potentially add to the risk of flooding.
Warragamba Dam west of Sydney started flowing late Wednesday and is currently at a rate of 53 gigalitres per day and could peak to 60 GL later on Thursday, Water NSW said.
Spills at the dam are not uncommon, previously occurring in May, and three times in 2024.
Warragamba Dam flows into the Hawkesbury-Nepean river catchment, with  smaller Sydney dams also spilling due to the rain across their catchment areas.