Tens of thousands of homes have lost power or are in need of urgent assistance as Tropical Cyclone Alfred approaches the Queensland coast.
Wild winds and heavy rain are expected to intensify on Friday before the cyclone crosses the coast in the evening or early on Saturday, likely between Noosa and Coolangatta in Queensland.
The category two system was about 180 kilometres off the Gold Coast early on Friday and the Bureau of Meteorology says it's likely to remain at that intensity as it makes landfall.
Its effects will be felt for hundreds of kilometres from Double Island Point in Queensland to Grafton in NSW.
More than 28,00 homes and businesses in southeast Queensland lost power on Friday morning around the Gold Coast area, Redland City and Scenic Rim.
Power company Energex said the outages were caused by debris over powerlines and substations and warned customers to brace four outages lasting a week or more.
'While we hope this doesn't happen, we must be ready for serious damage to the power network and/or homes," the company said.
There were some 6300 requests for assistance to the SES in NSW's Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast regions as of Friday morning, as thousands of other residents spent their first night out of home after being ordered to evacuate.
Millions are bracing for the onslaught of the tropical cyclone, with more than a million sandbags distributed in Queensland alone stacked high around homes in coastal cities and communities.
Dave and Charmaine Harris' house in Brisbane is fortressed front and back with bright yellow bags while everything inside their ground floor has been raised.
It's not the first time the pair have experienced inundation, so they are prepared - plastic containers to store valuables, relocating cars to higher ground and emptying water tanks ahead of Alfred's arrival.
But they are concerned amid forecasts of 130km/h wind gusts and heavy rain.
"We're hoping that it is not going to be as bad as they're predicting," Mr Harris told AAP.
Ms Harris has lived in Sandgate her whole life and experienced multiple flood events since 2011 so she knows a storm surge can be disastrous.
"We're nervous about what damage is going to be caused but no one knows," she said.
Should the winds get too strong and floodwaters reach too high, they will make the call to leave.
Some 400mm of rain is expected to be dumped on the region on Friday, as strong winds lash coastal communities and deliver waves as high as 12m .
More than 2000 NSW SES volunteers are preparing and assisting communities amid concerns rain will fall for up to five days after Alfred lands, risking towns being cut off.
"We cannot guarantee a boat for every house in the flood evacuation zone," NSW Premier Chris Minns said.
More than 1000 schools across the impacted region are shut, along with public transport, elective surgeries and non-critical government services.
Major airports in Brisbane and the Gold Coast are also shut with flights cancelled across several regional airfields.
