A meteor has lit up the sky above Sydney and been seen from hundreds of kilometres away tonight.

The bright flash happened about 6.30pm and was seen by many in Sydney, Canberra and elsewhere in regional NSW.

Astrophysicist Dr Brad Tucker said the sighting had been confirmed as a meteor.

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"It was spotted in Canberra and into central NSW," Dr Tucker told nine.com.au.

"The greenish colour indicates it was a meteor, usually with iron and nickel.

"The bright flash midway means it is likely fragmented or broke apart.

"It could be 30 to 50 centimetres in size based on the brightness."

Tucker, an associate professor at Australian National University, said the way a meteor was confirmed was by judging its colour and speed.

"Colours of objects indicate what it is made up of. Space junk is usually more yellow," he said.

"Meteors are travelling much faster than say satellites or space junk as well and so they cover a larger distance and are in the sky for a shorter time."

Tucker said it wasn't unheard of for a meteor to be seen, with "larger meteors like this maybe every month or so across Australia". The fortunate thing about tonight's was that it "happened at a good time".

"Early in the evening, so lots of people were still awake and out and about," he said.

"They can happen in the middle of the night."

Junjie Yu was driving home eastbound on the M5 near Moorebank when he captured the bright flash on his dashcam.

"All of a sudden in this slow-moving traffic, I saw this just streak of light barging through the air in the sky and in that moment it was pretty, pretty exciting, pretty thrilled," he said.

The 25-year-old said the first thing his mum said when she saw him was "did you get it on dashcam?" before urging him to immediately get the footage off the SD card.

"I've never seen one before, but yeah, it was quite impressive, and every single car in front of me sort of slowed down and brake, and that was pretty funny," he said. 

"Maybe everyone else had the same reaction."

Dean Bailey said he was finding a parking spot at Gledswood Hills Country Club when the meteor passed over.

"Next thing I know I see what looked like a mix of an explosion and lightning light up the sky so I quickly parked and checked the dash cam and saw that I captured the incredible moment," he told nine.com.au.

More than half a dozen reports of sightings were made to the International Meteor Organisation and Dr Ellie Sansom, director of Curtin University's Desert Fireball Network, encouraged more people to do so. 

"We can definitely get as far as figuring out where any meteorites might have landed," she said.

"So, from enough observations from crowdsourcing it, we can get an idea, maybe, of where the end height is and how fast it might have, or at the position of that trajectory."

She said when the network was fully operational across about a third of Australia it would pick up about one fireball a night but it was "very rare" to see such a bright fireball over a populated area at a time when so many people are outside and able to witness it.

Sansom said the fireball definitely appeared to be caused by a "decent size" meteoroid rather than space junk or some other man-made object, due in part to its speed.

"I'd say somewhere between maybe 10 centimetres and half a metre. I wouldn't say it's much bigger than that," she said.

"It does have some really like nice bright flares, which are pretty good, and it lasts at least five seconds, from what I can see,

" … it really depends on the angle these actually come in, if it's quite steep, then to survive five seconds it needs to be bigger, if it comes in shallow, it can survive the low density of the upper atmosphere for a lot longer."

A meteoroid – or an asteroid if it's larger than a metre – becomes a meteor when it passes into earth's atmosphere and a meteorite if it's large enough for chunks to land in the ocean or land.

The bright light it generates is called a fireball if it is brighter than Venus.

Another person told nine.com.au they were caught off guard by the brightness of the flash that they saw from Waterloo.

"l saw a flash of light in the sky and was so confused, I first thought it was a flare that had been lit," she said.

"Then I noticed this glowing ball of orange falling from the sky. I'd never seen anything like it.

"The whole sky was lit up for all of 10 seconds."

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A young man trying to board a flight to Sydney with a packet of hot chocolate and a laser hair removal device brought an airport near Melbourne to a standstill today.

Victoria's bomb squad unit was called to the scene and the passenger was detained after security flagged a "suspicious" item in his luggage just before 6am at Avalon Airport.

The man told 9News he was about to board his flight when one of his bags triggered an evacuation inside the domestic terminal.

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He followed the rest of his fellow passengers outside before police approached him.

The man was taken into custody until police identified the objects inside his bag: a laser hair removal device and some powdered hot chocolate.

"I didn't have a list, I wouldn't say I'm that well planned… so I was like, 'Oh there's clothes, and like this hair removal device," he told 9News.

"You're being accused of being a terrorist, so that's a pretty big deal."

Once security cleared his luggage, he was free to catch a later flight to Sydney.

Passengers were let back into the terminal about five hours after the items were flagged.

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Victoria Police Acting Inspector Nick Uebergang said there was no criminal offence.

He previously claimed the man who owned the bag "wasn't too cooperative" at the beginning.

"It made things difficult, we could have averted things and got out of here a lot quicker," Uebergang said.

"It probably took a little while for that to get into him about cooperating and giving us a better understanding of what was in the bag."

Uebergang praised the airport's security team for bringing the package to police attention.

"[We] want security to take these measures," he added.

Avalon Airport also thanked police for how they responded to the incident.

"Today's response demonstrates the vigilance of the screening and security processes, with precautionary measures taken immediately to ensure the safety of passengers, staff and the broader community, which will always remain our highest priority," the airport said.

The incident caused delays at Victoria's second-biggest airport, which is located around 50 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD.

Delays were longer than usual after passengers returned to the terminal because of a damaged X-ray machine.

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"At this stage, passengers are being advised that, due to safety precautions, delays are expected to the Brisbane flight this morning," police said earlier.

"The building has been evacuated and area cordoned off as a precaution while the investigation is ongoing."

Images from the scene showed cars backed up outside the airport, while security vehicles blocked entrances.

9News was told passengers landing this morning from a flight in Bali were escorted off the plane and into a holding area.

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Australia's unemployment rate has risen to 4.5 per cent in April, surprising market watchers who largely expected the jobless rate to remain steady.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that the number of employed people fell by 19,000 in April, while the number of unemployed people rose by 33,000.

The ASX200 rallied strongly soon after the result, as many suspect a weakening labour market would urge the RBA to hold or delay any further interest rate hikes.

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The figure of 4.5 per cent is the highest the unemployment rate has been since late 2021.

Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said the falls in employment were similar across both full-time and part-time roles.

"Compared to what we usually see in April, more people remained unemployed this month," he said.

"Both full-time and part-time employment fell, by 11,000 and 8000 people respectively."

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Harry McAuley, economist for Oxford Economics Australia, said while the war in Iran would be a factor, it would have to be a "lightning-fast response" from employers to be the primary contributor.

"It more likely reflects pre-war economic sentiment, compounded by the expected impacts of the oil crisis," McAuley said.

"We expect the unemployment rate to peak at 4.8 per cent in late 2027. A slowdown in private consumption and a tougher business environment should slow hiring.

"Business confidence has cratered under higher inputs and borrowing costs, which will flow through their hiring decisions."

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Jobless rate to influence RBA

After delivering three consecutive interest rate hikes this calendar year, today's unemployment figures will likely lessen the sentiment the central bank will deliver a fourth.

Wee Khoon Chong, APAC macro strategist at BNY, said today's surprise result will make the RBA move slower in hiking rates.

"The recent uptrend in the unemployment rate points to further weakness ahead," he said.

"This, along with easing in May PMI manufacturing and services confidence, is likely to imply a more cautious pace of RBA tightening ahead. The market has pared back rate-hike expectations, pricing in around one additional 25bp hike by the end of the year.

"That said, overall labour market conditions remain relatively tight. In our view, today's jobs data is not sufficient to counter the upside inflationary impact."

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A couple's marriage disintegrated after an empty hole was left in their backyard by a former AFL player-turned-fraudster.

Ex-Carlton and Port Adelaide footballer Nick Stevens, 46, faced a pre-sentence hearing at Melbourne's County Court today, where his victims aired the impact of his crimes.

A jury found him guilty of 12 charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and one of using a false document, for stealing about $157,000 from six regional families with his pool business in 2017.

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While he installed six legally compliant pools under the supervision of a registered builder, Stevens went out on his own without the required licence, registration, permits or insurance.

Stevens had taken money from the families, but left them with non-compliant pools or failed to install a pool at all with giant holes left behind.

Many victims were retirees or close to retirement with "little fat" in their budgets, trying to install pools for their children or grandchildren in the sweltering regional town of Mildura, the court was told.

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"An exhausting and relentless nightmare that I was reminded of every day, seeing the hole in my yard," Ben Knight said, in a statement read to court by prosecutor Toni Stokes.

The offending took a toll on his family, who had been excited about getting a pool, but were left with an empty hole for years.

"The pressure led to fighting between me and my wife over financial loss … a rollercoaster that eventually led to the breakdown in our marriage," he said.

Rod Charman said Stevens' constant lies, empty promises and blaming of others had drained him emotionally and financially.

"Each time I was told an untruth I got increasingly anxious over the pool being supplied, to be duped by Stevens and his lies," he said.

"The build-up of these lies infuriated me. The impact on our children and grandchildren of not having a pool for Christmas, as we had been promised, was profound and affected me deeply."

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Stevens, who played 231 games in the AFL until retiring in 2009 due to injury, watched via videolink from Hopkins Prison in Ararat, where his lawyer said he will likely stay for the rest of his sentence.

Barrister Jim Stavris urged the judge to spare Stevens a longer prison term, as he had already spent 52 days behind bars since the verdict in March and there had been lengthy delays to finalising the matter.

Stevens' profile as a former footballer meant he was a vulnerable prisoner who had to be held in protection, he said as he asked for Stevens to receive a community work order.

"He's going to do his time a bit harder than most," Stavris said.

"The benefit to community is for him to get out and keep working … under a strict community corrections order, so he can look at ways that he can better himself."

Judge Fiona Todd ordered Stevens be assessed for a community corrections order, but noted that she was unlikely to hand him a sentence other than a term of imprisonment.

"The role of punishment, denunciation, is powerful in this," she said.

Stokes said Stevens had shown no remorse as he continued to maintain his innocence, and – coupled with the impact of his offending on victims – prison with a non-parole period was warranted.

Stevens was remanded in custody and will return to the court for his sentence on June 15.

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The identity of the photographer who allegedly stole and pawned the camera gear of a slain Bondi terror victim in the aftermath of the attack has been revealed.

Police allege that Danny James Ridley stole the camera equipment of 61-year-old retired police officer and photographer Peter Meagher during the terror attack, when 15 innocent people – including Meagher – were killed.

Following a raid at Ridley's family home in Sydney's west yesterday, police will allege the 35-year-old, who was also a photographer at the Hanukkah event, stole the equipment and pawned it for $800 just three days later.

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In March, Meagher's widow, Virginia Wynne-Markham, issued a plea on social media for any information about the missing camera after police and his family were unable to find it, and it was deemed stolen shortly after.

Wynne-Markham spent five months searching for her husband's camera so she could look at the images the 61-year-old took in the moments before his tragic death. 

She was overjoyed to know the camera had been retrieved.

"The best news I've had in 159 days," she said.

"To get his card back is amazing. It's the last little piece of him … I'll treasure that forever."

It is now alleged that the SD card inside Meagher's camera was found at Ridley's Marayong home.

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In the raid, heavily armed police seized a camera, handcuffs, and electronic devices, while a car search yielded a "small amount of white crystal powder" and other electronics.

Ridley was arrested and charged with multiple theft, drug, and weapon offences.

He was bailed and will return to court on June 22.

A total of 15 innocent people were killed on the evening of Sunday, December 14, when two men opened fire on the crowd of people attending the outdoor event.

One of the attackers, who police say was 50-year-old Sajid Akram, was killed by police, while his son, Naveed Akram, was injured and arrested, and remains before the courts.

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