Tens of thousands of homes are without power and heavy rain has triggered flooding as Cyclone Alfred looms off south-east Queensland and northern NSW.

“It is slowly continuing towards the coast. Overnight we saw it packed a punch,” Queensland Premier David Crisafulli told ABC News.

The wild weather will only get worse, with the category two storm forecast to cross the coast near Brisbane between Noosa and Beenleigh early on Saturday, likely as a category two storm.

“I’ve spoken about the four challenges — the waves, the wind, the rain and the flooding,” Premier David Crisafulli said.

“Queenslanders will experience different impacts from that at different times.”

Alfred was initially set to arrive on Thursday night but stalled in recent days, adding extra anxiety to millions of people counting down to the first cyclone to hit Queensland’s south-east since 1974.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said “we should not think that slower means better” of Alfred’s meandering approach.

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“As it is over warmer waters, [it has] the potential to increase the intensity of it,” he said.

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There have already been damaging wind gusts across south-east Queensland and northern NSW. NSW’s Cape Byron has copped winds up to 120km/h while Gold Coast airport recorded 100km/h gusts.

Heavy rain has lashed communities and triggered flooding, with 48-hour totals of more than 400 millimetres in northern NSW and up to 250 millimetres in Queensland’s south-east.

“Unfortunately the northern river systems of NSW are already on their way to major flooding,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Sarah Scully said.

Schools, businesses, supermarkets and airports have been closed, while those not in high risk areas were told to stay home as Alfred made its presence felt.

More than 40,000 homes were without power in Queensland on Friday along with another 35,000 in northern NSW, due largely to flying debris. An elderly woman in Mudgeeraba was treated after a tree smashed into her home, while two people were taken to hospital with minor injuries after an enormous gum tree fell on their home in the Currumbin Valley.

“We continue to urge the community to plan for power outages lasting a week or more,” an Energex spokesperson said.

Thousands of people spent their first night in refuge centres across northern NSW after being forced to evacuate. Orders were extended last night to include Bowraville, parts of Macksville, parts of Port Macquarie, North Shore, Settlement Point, Hastings, Hibbard Drive, South Golden Beach, and New Brighton.

“Seek shelter, go to family and friends first. There are emergency evacuation centres that are located if there are no alternatives,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said.

“We have to reiterate the message that these are more of a life raft rather than a cruise ship – and the priority is to keep people safe during a difficult situation.”

Minns praised the public response to evacuation orders and the unfolding emergency.

“Yesterday afternoon, thousands of people, literally thousands of people, were asked to leave their home, he said.

“The message that we’re reporting today is that that has happened. This is a huge relief to the SES, to the local council, to the NSW government.”

Northern NSW’s low lying areas are set to be inundated, prompting more than 100 army personnel to fly in and assist more than 2000 SES personnel.

In Queensland, more than one million sandbags have been distributed in the anxious countdown to Alfred.

“We’re nervous about what damage is going to be caused but no one knows,” Charmaine Harris said outside her sandbagged Brisbane home.

But Alfred couldn’t come soon enough for some.

“We’ve cleared the house up and the yard, gotten food and now just sick of waiting,” Kylie Madge said from the Brisbane coastal community of Wynnum on Friday.