Flood-weary residents have been told to prepare for the worst and hope for the best as Tropical Cyclone Alfred approaches, with millions in its path.

The category two cyclone is now expected to make landfall somewhere between the Sunshine Coast and Coolangatta late on Friday or early Saturday, after its arrival was further pushed back on Thursday.

By midday Thursday (Queensland time), Alfred was 280 kilometres east of Brisbane, moving west at just 10km/h.

Its latest slowdown will provide no respite, only ensuring heavy rain and massive surf will hit south-east Queensland and northern NSW for longer. On 10-metre monster wave has already been recorded offshore.

A storm surge expected around the cyclone’s southern side will push sea levels up to a metre above “the normal highest astronomical tides” possible.

“If the system crosses at high tide, there is the risk of seeing storm surges up to 1.5 metres, particularly around the Redland bay area and the Gold Coast,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Matthew Collopy said on Thursday.

Heavy to locally intense rainfall is expected across Queensland’s south-east from later on Thusday to “at least Saturday”.

As Alfred moves closer to Australia’s east coast and rain and winds increase, the NSW State Emergency Service has issued 24 prepare to evacuate orders in the northern rivers. Among them are towns such as Ballina that were devastated by record-breaking floods three years ago.

Acting Chief Superintendent Stuart Fisher said the damage could be worse than the 2022 floods that smashed the region.

“I cannot stress enough this is a significant weather event, not like 2022, where we had a single event,” he said on Thursday.

Up to 700 millimetres of rain is expected, with authorities stressing to everyone in the cyclone zone should “pray for the best but prepare for the worst”.

More than 2000 emergency volunteers armed with drones, high clearance vehicles and water pumps have been deployed. But NSW Premier Chris Minns stressed they cannot be everywhere and urged everyone to use common sense.

“Alfred is behaving like a completely unwanted house guest,” he said in Lismore on Thursday.

“Unfortunately that means the window for destruction in our community – heavy rains, winds, powerful surf – is longer than we would have otherwise liked.

“Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

Schools, offices, public transport and the Gold Coast airport were closed on Thursday as Queensland’s south-east bunkered down, expecting heavy rain and gale force winds as Alfred approached.

Coles and Woolworths stores in areas expected to be affected began closing on Thursday.

Commercial airlines will suspend services from Brisbane on Thursday afternoon while Carnival Luminosa’s three-day cruise has been called off and Greyhound bus services have been cancelled.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli urged people to stay home where ever possible.

“We’ve done the preparation and I want Queenslanders to know there will be no daylight between the response and the recovery,” he said.

“Do another check around your yard, check for loose items that could become a projectile.”

South of the Tweed, 14 evacuation centres have been established in areas such as Lismore, Mullumbimby and Murwillumbah.

NSW SES Commissioner Mike Wassing said some 20,000 people in 10,000 homes could be affected as “worst case scenario numbers”.

Federal and state disaster relief funds have also been rolled out to communities in 15 local government areas in Northern NSW to help cover immediate needs such as emergency accommodation.

Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg, who was an integral figure in the city’s recovery and reconstruction after the catastrophic 2022 floods, emphasised vigilance.

“We are at the very start of this weather event. It will be quite treacherous over the coming two or three days, so please stay safe and listen to the warnings,” he said, as authorities warned of complacency.

Cape Byron, the easternmost point of mainland Australia, will be in the eye of the storm with dangerous storm tides and destructive winds of up to 155 km/h predicted.

There have already been abnormally high tides and damaging surf conditions along NSW’s northern coast, with warnings issued to avoid beaches.

Major flooding at Thora and Bellingen is possible in coming days and on the Wilsons River near Lismore, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

-with AAP