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New Zealand's death toll from heavy rain has risen to four as flash floods and landslides on the north island continued for a third day.

Battered since Friday, Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, remained under a state of emergency.

The nation's weather forecaster, MetService, warned of more severe weather on Sunday and Monday for the north island.

Intense rainfall could also cause surface and flash flooding, it said.

"We know that there is potential for more adverse weather tonight," Auckland Emergency Management controller Rachel Kelleher told reporters on Sunday.

The emergency covers large swathes of the north island, with Waitomo District about 220 kilometres from Auckland, declaring a state of emergency late on Saturday.

A man missing after being swept away on Friday in Onewhero, a rural village about 70km south of Auckland, was confirmed dead, police said.

"The most horrific part of it is that we've lost lives," Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni said in Auckland, a city of 1.6 million.

Climate change is causing episodes of heavy rainfall to become more common and more intense in New Zealand, though the impact varies by region.

Climate Change Minister James Shaw noted the link to climate change on Saturday when he tweeted his support for those affected by flooding.

Police said on Sunday they were assisting with traffic management and road closures in Waitomo District after heavy rainfall "caused numerous slips, flooding and damage to roads".

In nearby Bay of Plenty there was also "widespread flooding", police said, as well as a landslide that had knocked down a house and was threatening neighbouring properties.

Thousands of properties remained without power, while hundreds were without water, authorities said.

Still, Air New Zealand resumed international flights in and out of Auckland at noon on Sunday (1000 AEDT), a spokesperson said.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, less than a week in office, flew by helicopter over Auckland on Saturday and toured flood-hit homes.

He described the flood impact in the city as "unprecedented" in recent memory.

People made more than 2000 calls for assistance and 70 evacuations around Auckland - the nation's largest city - due to the inundation, the New Zealand Herald reported Saturday.

© RAW 2023

Jason Kubler and Rinky Hijikata have ensured an Australian Open trophy has remained in home hands, storming to a shock straight-sets win in the men's doubles final.

With singles champion Ash Barty retiring and Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis unable to defend their 2022 doubles crown due to injury, Kubler and Hijikata have flown the flag, beating Monaco's Hugo Nys and Poland's Jan Zielinski 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in Saturday night's decider.

The men's match didn't get started on Rod Laver Arena until after 11pm with the women's singles final stretching to three sets.

But plenty of local fans stuck around at Melbourne Park post-midnight to watch the unlikely victory and the pair being presented the trophy by doubles legends, American twins Mike and Bob Bryan.

They also will also split an impressive prize cheque of $695,000.

Kubler, the former junior world No.1 who's completed a spectacular rise over the past 12 months after an injury-hit career, said it was his career highlight.

"It's pretty crazy now what me and Rinky can do for the rest of the year - I think we can play all of the tournaments together, hopefully build off this," the 29-year-old said.

"But, man, this is the highlight of the career for me.

"Rinky is only 21 and he's a grand slam champion so he's got a great future ahead of him."

Playing together for the first time, the local wildcards cut a swathe through the draw to make the title match, knocking off three top 10 seeds including top-ranked Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski in the quarter-finals.

Nys and Zielinski were also playing in their maiden grand slam final and only linked as a pair last March.

However, they won the Metz trophy last season and reached the US Open quarter-finals.

Showing no signs of nerves, the Australians broke Zielinski's serve to love early in the opening set.

Kubler himself served well throughout while Hijikata, at 21 eight years younger than his partner, was outstanding at the net.

They both outplayed their opponents from the back of the court to fire up their fans.

Kubler stormed through his serve to level at 6-6 in the second set, sending it to a tiebreak.

They edged ahead 5-4 after a searing Kubler forehand and won the match in a chaotic final point that left Hijikata on his backside.

"I had no clue what was going on - Kubs (Kubler) swatted two balls back and I absolutely stacked it," Hijikata said.

"To be honest, I'm a bit dirty that that's my match point, winning a grand slam on that."

Hijikata said he didn't have long to celebrate, flying out to Burnie in Tasmania on Sunday for a challenger tournament.

No all-Australian pairing since the legendary Woodies - Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde - had won the Open men's doubles in a quarter of a century until last year.

Now Kubler and Hijikata have repeated the wildcard heroics of the 'Special Ks', Kyrgios and Kokkinakis.

Australians own two of the four men's grand slam doubles trophies.

After losing last year's Australian Open final to Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, Max Purcell and Matt Ebden won Wimbledon six months later.

© AAP 2023

Aryna Sabalenka wept tears of relief and joy after breaking through for her elusive maiden grand slam title with a tension-filled three-set Australian Open final triumph over Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.

Fifth-seeded Sabalenka battled back from a set down to defeat Rybakina 4-6 6-3 6-4 at Melbourne Park to finally shed her tag as the best female player without a major.

Sabalenka's watershed win completes a glorious unbeaten summer in which the 24-year-old also claimed the Adelaide International title and dropped only one set in 11 matches to vault herself back to No.2 in the world rankings.

Ash Barty was fittingly back at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night to return the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup before the Belarusian held her nerve in a gripping final game to deny Rybakina a second slam in seven months.

Sabalenka has the distinction of being the last player to topple Barty in a final, beating Australia's former world No.1 in Madrid in 2019 before the 26-year-old's shock retirement - 12 more titles and three grand slam crowns later - last March.

Barty was happy for Sabalenka to take centre stage as she finally delivered on her undeniable talent.

But it was not straightforward as Rybakina saved three match points in an epic final game before Sabalenka saluted and slumped to the court in relief and perhaps also disbelief.

"I will need a few days to realised what just happened. I'm speechless," Sabalenka said.

"It was super emotional, I was super happy that I was able to handle all of the emotions in the last game."

Her success completes one of the great transformations in sport after Sabalenka, gripped by serving yips, departed Melbourne last year following 56 soul-destroying double-faults in just four matches.

With a tour-topping 428 doubles for 2022, Sabalenka desperately turned to a psychologist - and the results have been stunning.

The once-fragile, volatile unfulfilled talent has not lost since falling to Caroline Garcia in last year's season-ending championship final in Texas and out-aced Rybakina, the Open's ace leader, 17 to nine in the final.

"I lost three grand slam semi-finals and it was a really tough time. It was really needed from me to understand what I needed to change and improve," Sabalenka said.

"I'm super happy to break this wall.

"Thanks to my team, the craziest team on tour. We went through a lot of lows last year but we worked so hard. You deserve this trophy more than me."

Contesting her long-awaited first major final, Sabalenka's nerves showed early as she dropped the first set with five dreaded double-faults.

But she refused to yield, quickly striking back with a break in the fourth game of the second set, a lead the fifth seed then refused to relinquish.

Locked at one set apiece, Sabalenka snared the decisive break at 3-3 in the decider and held serve twice more, the last time amid unbearable tension in her box, to seal victory on her fourth match point after an enthralling two-hour, 28-minute contest.

After taking out world No.1 Iga Swiatek in the fourth round, then Jelena Ostapenko in the quarter-finals and dual Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka in the semis, Rybakina was the first woman since Jennifer Capriati 22 years ago to beat three major champions at Melbourne Park.

Alas, the emerging star fell a set short in her gallant quest to emulate Barty in claiming the Australian Open title the year after winning Wimbledon.

Instead the 23-year-old will have to settle for a consolation prize of a rankings rise into the world's top 10 for the first time on Monday.

"Elena, you're such a great player." Sabalenka said.

"I know we're going to have many more battles, hopefully in the finals of grand slams."

© AAP 2023