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A 24-year-old man has been arrested and charged after an alleged attempted kidnapping of a five-year-old boy in New York was caught on video, the New York City Police Department tweeted.

The man, who has not been named publicly, faces charges of attempted kidnapping, reckless endangerment and acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17 years old, according to police.

The NYPD earlier said it was looking for two men in connection with the alleged attempted kidnapping last Thursday night.

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Surveillance footage released by police shows a man getting out of a maroon-coloured sedan and moving quickly toward a group of children and one adult walking down the street. The man grabs the smallest child as he walked several paces ahead of the others.

The man carries the boy to the far side of the sedan, puts him in the rear seat and gets into the driver's seat of the car.

Meanwhile, the child's mother, identified by police as Dolores Diaz Lopez, runs to the passenger side of the car and appears to struggle with someone in the front seat. She eventually gets hold of her son and pulls him out the front-passenger window.

The attempted kidnapping happened quickly, according to the video, lasting approximately 15 seconds.

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"Oh, I'm scared," Ms Diaz Lopez told CNN affiliate WABC.

"I said, 'Oh my God! My kids! Oh my God, my boy' I screaming, I screaming. But thank God I take my boy."

The car drives off as bystanders start to gather. One man smacks the hood of the car with his hand as it drives off.

The mother told WABC she had never seen the men before.

A spokesperson for the NYPD said Friday the incident is not being investigated as an act of domestic violence. Ms Diaz Lopez says the man didn't say a word to her or her kids.

Police said the boy was unhurt.

A streak of icy cold mornings is continuing in Australia's south and south-east as a high-pressure system lingers over South Australia, Victoria and parts of NSW.

While the weather system is resulting in minimal cloud in the skies, it is also bringing gusty winds in from the ocean and some showers across coastal regions.

Across Victoria, strong wind warnings are in place for the West Coast, Central Coast and Central Gippsland Coast while these will strengthen to strong gale warnings in Port Phillip, Western Port, West Coast, Central Coast, Central Gippsland Coast and East Gippsland Coast tomorrow.

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There are also string coastal winds forecast for parts of NSW, including the Macquarie Coast, Hunter Coast, Sydney Coast, Illawarra Coast and Batemans Coast.

In South Australia, parts of the Adelaide Hills saw heavy fog this morning with road safety warnings in place for drivers headed into work.

On the west coast, another fog warning is in place for Perth, with authorities warning motorists to drive to the conditions.

Western Australia's extreme weather is due to a trough crossing the south, also generating gusty winds and showers in areas still recovering from weeks of intense storms and flooding.

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In other parts of the country, the ACT and Tasmania are both cloudy today with tops no greater than 15C, while in Queensland there is a moderate flood warning for the Macintyre River and Weir River after heavy overnight showers in the area.

The top End's run of overly warm winter days is continuing with top temperatures of 33C in Darwin and surrounds.

Police hope a fresh push can solve the mystery of what happened to a North Queensland woman who vanished while hitchhiking more than two decades ago.

Joanne Butterfield, then aged 37, was last seen around 8pm on June 25, 1998, after telling friends she was planning on hitchhiking south.

Since leaving a house in Mowbray, around 60 kilometres north of Cairns, Ms Butterfield's disappearance has baffled police.

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The first clue something terrible might have happened was when several of Ms Butterfield's personal items, including a black purse and a favourite embroidered bag, was found three days later, near a lookout and the bank of a cane train track in Pin Gin Hill, almost 150 kilometres south of Mowbray.

Then, even more mysteriously, an envelope containing Ms Butterfield's Medicare card, bank cards and personal documents was delivered to her Mossman home on July 8, 13 days after she had set off on the road.

Ms Butterfield was last seen wearing a short black dress with shoulder straps, black flat shoes, and carrying her floral embroidered bag.

She is described as Caucasian, approximately 160cm tall, with long auburn hair and blue eyes.

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Queensland detectives believe more information could lead to a breakthrough in the cold case.

Detectives want to speak with anyone who may have seen a woman hitchhiking between Port Douglas and the South Johnstone area between June 25 and June 28, 1998.

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