The heavy rains which caused flooding and three evacuation orders on the NSW South Coast are easing but howling winds and damaging surf are battering much of the state's coastline.

Victoria has recorded Australia's deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic with 19 deaths, as the state reported its lowest number of new cases in almost two weeks.

The NRL will consider heavier sanctions for players and officials who breach the bubble, with Peter V'landys warning they are putting all Queensland teams at risk.

A man with just one day of mandatory quarantine to go in the Northern Territory has been hit with a $5000 fine after he was caught trying to sneak out early.

A prison officer will have to undergo blood tests after a prisoner lunged and bit him at a correctional facility in far north Queensland.

A 40-year-old man has been wounded in the head, chest and arm after allegedly being attacked with a crossbow in the western Sydney suburb of Yagoona.

Many Australians have picked up new habits during the coronavirus lockdown with almost one in eight drinking alcohol every day since the pandemic began, a survey has found.

Almost 270 Victorians have been fined for breaching coronavirus restrictions, including a man helping a friend to move a TV across Melbourne.

A staff member at Bunnings in Sydney's west has tested positive to COVID-19.

SES volunteers have responded to more than 200 calls and conducted seven rescues on NSW's south coast, after areas flooded only last week receive another drenching.