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More than 150 NSW schools have been closed as torrential downpours prompt evacuations around Sydney's south and southwest.

Residents have been ordered to evacuate houses and caravan parks after forecasters predicted major flooding for parts of the state.

Evacuation orders were issued early on Friday for people in Cornwallis and the eastern part of Richmond lowlands as well as low-lying parts of Cattai, Pitt Town and Agnes Banks.

Residents in Camden and Chipping Norton in Sydney's southwest and Woronora, Bonnet Bay and Gronos Point were earlier ordered to evacuate as floodwaters began to rise on Thursday.

People were also warned to prepare for evacuation in parts of Ebenezer, Emu Plains, Mulgoa, Sackville North, Pitt Town Bottoms, Camden, Elderslie, Wallacia Weir and North Richmond for fear of being trapped without power and water.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said close to 2400 people were subject to 23 evacuation orders on Friday morning, with more than 17,000 being warned to prepare for evacuations.

He advised them to keep heeding the warnings.

"Despite the substantial flooding that we've seen across our state, what is incredibly pleasing has been that we've only lost a very few amount of lives, and that has occurred because of the efforts that everyone has made across our state in following the instructions of the SES," Mr Perrottet said.

Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said the state is experiencing flood fatigue but people need to keep following the advice of emergency services.

"It will stop raining, it will get better," Ms Cooke said.

"We just need to keep (getting) through this one day at a time."

The Bureau of Meteorology's Jane Golding said the rain is easing on Friday after downpours on Thursday.

"We do have flood warnings current though, so although the rain is easing ... we do have major flood warnings for some sites," she said.

"The rivers will be moving quickly (and) there's a lot of debris flowing around."

The SES received close to 1200 requests for assistance and conducted 35 rescues in the past 24 hours.

"Across a population base the size that we had under warning areas, 35 is actually quite a low number and we are really grateful for the community for listening," NSW SES acting commissioner Daniel Austin said.

More than 1200 SES volunteers have been on the ground as catchments react quickly to heavy rain causing flash flooding.

The NSW education department has listed 154 schools, predominantly around Greater Sydney, the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions that are not operating due to adverse weather conditions on Friday morning.

Major flood warnings are in place for rivers in the the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley and the NSW Central and South Coast.

Water is also spilling over Warragamba Dam, which was at capacity when the downpour started.

A major flood peak above levels seen during the April 1988 floods passed through Menangle on Thursday afternoon, where the Nepean River reached 16.83 metres on Thursday afternoon before falling back to 11.75m by 7am on Friday.

Further downstream, the river exceeded last month's height at Camden Weir, reaching 12.21m about 10pm on Thursday before falling back to 11.03m by Friday morning.

Wallacia is expected to experience flooding at levels higher than last month when the Upper Nepean River peaks on Friday morning.

There is also major flooding at North Richmond on the Hawkesbury River, although the Bureau of Meteorology believes the rises will not be as severe as last month's flooding.

© AAP 2022

Prime Minister Scott Morrison appears likely to call the election this weekend, as a Liberal Party stoush continues in the courts.

Mr Morrison will attend a groundbreaking ceremony for the Hanwha Armoured Vehicle Centre of Excellence in Melbourne on Friday, as he continues to spruik federal budget initiatives and hones his attack on Labor.

"We don't claim to be perfect. But what we do claim is the results of our economy, the results of our national security and the plan for the future," he told Melbourne radio 3AW.

"No one knows who Anthony Albanese is. They don't know what he's going to do. He's had three years to tell the Australian people what he's going to do - he hasn't."

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was also on the attack, tying Labor to the Greens and claiming Labor would increase taxes in Queensland if elected to government.

"Guess where the businesses are, that are going to get a new tax?" Right here and in North Queensland," he said.

The Nationals leader appeared to be referring to Labor's plan to reduce the safeguard mechanism from 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, which would result in heavy emitters paying more for their emissions.

Mr Joyce on Friday was turning the first sod on the Olive Downs coal mine, located around 200km inland from Mackay.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton also accused Labor of being "tax happy" and implored voters to continue to put their trust in the government given the economic headwinds ahead.

"You don't want to risk a change of government in that circumstance," he told the Nine Network.

But Labor Deputy Leader Richard Marles hit back, saying the government had doubled Australia's debt before the pandemic began and branding the budget's "stand out stat" as being nine years of stagnant wage growth.

"We've had record low wage growth in Australia. That's because under this government productivity has fallen through the floor," he told the Nine Network.

"Cost of living is a real issue - the crunch is there because wages are stagnant. That's why we're taking measures like making childcare more affordable, making TAFE free, trying to lower power bills.

"At the end of the day, we have to get wages going."

Meanwhile, the prime minister is awaiting the result of a special leave application to the High Court by expelled NSW Liberal member Matthew Camenzuli.

Mr Camenzuli is challenging the federal executive's ability to intervene in the selection of NSW Liberal candidates for the election, due to be held on May 14 or 21.

A federal panel comprising Mr Morrison, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and former party president Chris McDiven stepped in to save ministers Sussan Ley and Alex Hawke, and backbencher Trent Zimmerman from being dumped as candidates.

The High Court will decide whether to allow special leave to hear the application at 4pm on Friday.

A successful court action could also put nine other NSW Liberal candidate selections in jeopardy.

A senior Liberal figure told AAP this would effectively mean "game over" for the Morrison government.

The coalition is well behind Anthony Albanese's Labor team in published opinion polls.

An average of polls, published by election analyst William Bowe, puts Labor on 55.3 per cent of the two-party preferred vote - a 6.8 per cent turnaround on the 2019 election result.

Mr Albanese, who will be in Adelaide on Friday, summed up his platform on Thursday as seeking "a better future for Australia where no one is left behind and no one is held back".

He pointed to infighting within the Liberals as a sign the government is more concerned with its own survival than issues of importance to Australians.

© AAP 2022

More residents have been ordered to evacuate houses and caravan parks after forecasters predicted historic flooding for parts of NSW due to the severe weather.

Early on Friday evacuation orders were issued for people living in Cornwallis and the eastern part of Richmond lowlands.

Residents in parts of Cattai, Pitt Town and Agnes Banks were also told to get out for fear of being trapped without power and water.

Major flood warnings are in place for rivers in the the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley and the NSW Central and South Coast after torrential rain drenched the Sydney, Shoalhaven and Wollongong regions on Thursday.

The downpour and threat of flooding forced residents to evacuate in a number of areas, and some schools to close.

A total 24 schools will be closed on Friday, the NSW Department of Education said, with another 13 schools teaching classes at different sites.

Schools closed include Kurnell Public School in the Sutherland Shire, Camden High School in southwest Sydney, Fairy Meadow Public School in the Wollongong area, and Mount Kembla Public School in the Illawarra.

On Thursday, evacuation orders were issued for residents in Camden and Chipping Norton in Sydney's southwest and Woronora, Bonnet Bay and Gronos Point on Thursday, as flood waters began to rise.

In Camden, numerous rescues were carried out on Thursday afternoon as the Nepean River burst its banks, with at least five people retrieved with State Emergency Service boats, footage aired on the Nine Network showed.

Warnings for possible evacuation were also in place for Stuarts Point on the mid-north coast, Stonequarry Creek, Picton and parts of Camden and Elderslie Sydney's southwest, and Wallacia Weir in the Blue Mountains.

Major flooding is occurring on the Nepean, and flood levels at Menangle are expected to peak over record heights reached in 1988.

There is also major flooding at North Richmond on the Hawkesbury River, although the Bureau of Meteorology believes the rises will not be as severe as the flooding that occurred last month.

© AAP 2022