Rural and regional NSW is “on edge” after heavy rain and flash flooding while Sydney was spared the worst of the wild weather that has hit the state.

Emergency services have performed 28 flood rescues in the last 24 hours as of Sunday afternoon, with 21 of them overnight.

Five emergency warnings have been issued across NSW, from Dubbo to the outskirts of Sydney, with residents told to prepare to leave.

The evacuation orders are among 94 warnings issued across NSW, including 45 advice-level warnings and 44 watch-and-act warnings.

State Emergency Service commissioner Carlene York urged people to be vigilant after a night of rescues, the majority being people who’d attempted to drive through floodwaters.

“It is very dangerous out there on our roads and we are seeing a lot of flash flooding and obviously the rivers are still rising,” Ms York said on Sunday.

Sydney luckier than expected

Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said Sydney had been “fortunate” but NSW is expecting another big system to hit on Wednesday.

“Communities in rural, regional and remote NSW; they’ll be on edge for the next few days while we wait for another big system to arrive,” Ms Cooke said.

“We are in for a long spring and summer in relation to wet weather conditions.”

Ms Cooke said floodwaters would cause problems for inland communities for months.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Jane Golding said NSW could expect a series of weather fronts to pass through the state.

“We’ve seen totals far more than what we would normally see at this point in October,” Ms Golding said.

Evacuation orders were active for the Oura Beach Camping Area outside Wagga Wagga, the Western Plains Tourist Park at Dubbo, the Riverside Ski Park in Cattai, and parts of Agnes Banks and Lower Portland.

Residents along the Hawkesbury River west of Sydney have been told to prepare to evacuate with dangerous flooding predicted.

Four evacuation centres have been set up, including three in and around Sydney and a fourth in Dubbo.

Major flooding is occurring and expected across the state, including in Gundagai from Sunday afternoon and several locations along the Lachlan River.

In the NSW’s central west, the Bathurst 1000 was marred by a series of crashes with conditions hampered by the torrential rain the area had seen.

Victoria too

Meanwhile in Victoria, heavy rain drowned out a wine and music festival on Saturday, with major flood warnings for parts of the state even as rain eased.

Emergency services issued a watch and act message for communities in central and northeast parts, including the towns of Charlton, Avoca, Laanecoorie and Cowra near the Murray River.

In one dramatic rescue (pictured above), the NSW RFS saved a driver trapped on his roof in fast-flowing flood waters in the Illawara and used a heavy tanker to get the man to safety.

By Saturday night Putty, northwest of Sydney, had copped 79mm of rain in six hours while Vincentia in Jervis Bay recorded 82mm in three hours.

NSW SES continue to respond to a prolonged flood campaign in Western and Southern areas of the State. Eastern parts of the State will be on watch over the weekend due to current weather impacting these areas.
Overnight we have seen the predicted weather… https://t.co/65jn6Xd4rw pic.twitter.com/wHtn6DFNSq

— NSW SES (@NSWSES) October 8, 2022

Earlier in the day the NSW State Emergency Service performed six rescues and responded to 330 calls for help.

In Victoria, heavy rain drowned out a wine and music festival on Saturday with major flood warnings for parts of the state even as rain eased.

As predicted, conditions in NSW eased in the early hours of Sunday before tapering off by midday.

Australian Defence Force helicopters were placed on standby in NSW to assist in a potential emergency.

Another image from the rescue near Otford (Wollongong) this evening. Driver is ok. #nswrfs https://t.co/GgvbTrVmXJ pic.twitter.com/u8sxDC4Utj

— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) October 8, 2022

In the state’s west, Bathurst 1000 fans soaked under 100mm of rain and one event was called off due to torrential rain, but the main race was still scheduled to go ahead on Sunday morning.

In Victoria, emergency services issued a watch and act message for communities in central and northeast parts, including the towns of Charlton, Avoca, Laanecoorie and Cowra near the Murray River.

In NSW, major flooding was occurring on the Macquarie, Darling, Culgoa and Lachlan rivers.

Bathurst shootout cancelled

Supercars fans attending their first year back in full capacity around Mount Panorama braved torrential rain and flooding only to have the Bathurst 1000 top ten shootout cancelled.

Saturday’s shootout which Cam Waters was set to lead was canned by officials due to extreme weather and unsafe driving conditions.

Those conditions extended to the fans who have bravely sat through torrential rain trackside, witnessing Bathurst without crowd limitations for the first time since the pandemic began.

Tens of thousands descended on the NSW central west this year and the 7000 sold-out campsite ticket holders have endured stop and start rain, cold October weather and now the cancellation of final qualifying.

Mud and rivers can be found all around the grounds as water streams down the mountain to the main gates.

Non-camping fans without four wheel drives were told to catch public transport to the grounds on Saturday after the general access parking saw cars bogged deep in mud.

Camping grounds turn to mud at Bathurst. Photo: AAP

“Parking is at your own risk,” Supercars said.

Following what was described by drivers and officials as a “disappointing” cancellation of the shootout for the first time in history, reigning champion Chaz Mostert was astounded how fans just keep turning up rain, hail or shine.

“Our fans in our sport are the best in the country,” he said.

“The dedication they show here all week long into the weekend, cheering their favourite drivers on, their teams, sharing plenty of bevvies with their next door neighbours in their campsite in those conditions.

“We are very lucky to have the fans that we have in this sport.

“We’re sorry we didn’t get be able to do the top 10 today. It hurts us on the inside too.

“But we want to make sure all the cars, all your teams, all the drivers on the grid tomorrow, putting on the actual race.”

Mostert will start third on the grid behind Lee Holdsworth and pole-sitter Cam Waters.

-with AAP