An increase in cyclists illegally using motorways and tunnels has prompted warnings from traffic authorities.

More than 120 cyclists rode through Sydney tunnels and motorways between January and July this year, in comparison to 43 during the same period last year.

The Eastern Distributor had the highest number of offenders.

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"This is really dangerous behaviour. It's reckless on two wheels," Roads Minister Jo Haylen said.

Global transport company Transurban monitors Sydney motorways through hundreds of CCTV cameras, catching these incidents often.

In one clip shared with 9News, a cyclist can be seen attempting to cross three lanes of traffic on a push bike inside the M8 tunnel.

In another, a food delivery driver can be seen riding along the shoulder of the road as cars fly past him.

"I can't answer for the increase but what I can say is one incident is one too many," Transburban's head of operations Adam Lloyd said

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Cyclists using a maps app could be led astray if they don't have the travelling by bike option enabled.

Riders shouldn't panic if they accidentally end up inside a tunnel, as incident response teams are sent out immediately after a bike is detected on a motorway, Lloyd said.

"If you are on your bike and you are approaching a motorway stop, find a safe place. Our team will be en route to help you."

Cyclists can be hit with a $2200 fine for riding through a tunnel.

A window of a Raumanga home has been damaged by the shooting.

Emergency services responded to the crash in Waitomo, Waikato, about 6.45pm Tuesday.

An elderly man has been hospitalised with deep cuts to his arm after a chainsaw accident at his property.

WARNING: Some readers may find an image in this story confronting.

He was using the electric tool in Kenthurst in Sydney's north-west this afternoon when the accident happened.

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An off-duty nurse helped the man – aged in his late 70s – by giving him first aid and applying a tourniquet before paramedics arrived.

The Mounties Care CareFlight Helicopter landed on a nearby cricket oval, and CareFlight's critical care team and paramedics worked together to treat the patient.

The man was taken by road to Westmead Hospital accompanied by the CareFlight specialist doctor.

He is in a stable condition.

A family has been forced to take shelter in a bedroom after a group of offenders opened fire on two units in Melbourne's south-east.

Baryalai Rahmanzai was home with his three young children and pregnant wife on Sunday night when multiple shots were fired into his home on Burrows Avenue in Dandenong about 11.10pm.

"They were very scared. I told them don't go tomorrow to school because they [were] just crying that night," Rahmanzai told 9News.

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The shots were also fired at the unit next door, hitting doors and a car.

Omid Hassan was picking up a work car when the shots were fired.

9News understands the three masked offenders were armed with two pistols and fired at least eight rounds into both units.

"I heard like shooting, shooting, shooting, bang, bang, bang. I was terrified and scared," Hassan said.

"From inside I was yelling, 'sir don't shoot, I've got nothing'. I [was] coming out with my hands behind my head."

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The 32-year-old moved to Australia from Afghanistan in 2021 after working as an interpreter on the frontline with allied forces.

He told 9News he was worried his past had followed him to Melbourne.

"I thought it was a safe country. I fled to Australia to seek shelter," Hassan said.

Police are probing if a car found on fire on Oaks Court in Lysterfield South is linked.

9News understands police are investigating whether it was a targeted attack or a case of mistaken identity.

One avenue being explored is whether any previous or current owners of the rental properties had any criminal links.

The offenders remain on the run as police continue to investigate. 

Widower laments the loss of his wife nearly three years on from death.

A Victorian mother never imagined her three-year-old son would drown after falling into a septic tank while at a family friend's housewarming party earlier this year.

Amanpreet was feeding her seven-month-old baby when her son Nihal went missing on March 19.

After a frantic search, his body was discovered. He had stepped on an unsecured lid of a septic tank and drowned.

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Nihal was found after they witnessed another child's foot getting caught in the cover of the pit.

After opening the lid, they spotted Nihal's jumper in the water.

"I can't count how many times I ran over that septic pit," Amanpreet said.

"I kept shouting, 'No, it's not Nihal. It's just his jumper.'

"But then a man pulled out the jumper, and it was my son.

"We didn't get time to say goodbye."

Three toddlers have died in septic pit incidents in the past 18 months across Australia.

The underground tanks can be found outside older homes or regional properties.

Amanpreet said she initially had a conversation with her son about being safe around the swimming pool, but she was unaware of the danger posed by the septic pit.

"I had never heard of a septic pit before that day. I didn't know what it was," she said.

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Kidsafe Victoria chief executive Melaine Courtney said septic safety "screens" should be mandated across the country.

"It's a very simple mechanism that means if the lid fails the child will not fall through," she said.

"(We are) urging all homeowners that do have a septic pit on their property to check their system, check their lid and make sure it's inaccessible to children."

But her efforts made a lawyer suspicious, so he called in an expert.

Woman was accused of wounding her former partner at a sailing club last October.

A nurse suspended for tampering with COVID-19 vaccines told a pharmacist she was only checking they had the correct dose.

It formed part of the unprofessional conduct and implausible claims that led to the nurse and midwife's three-month suspension, and the rejection of her evidence about the tampered vaccines.

Kylie Sharee Parmenter was caught out when she returned to the same regional NSW pharmacy where she had earlier replaced vaccines meant for herself and a close family member during one of the state's COVID-19 vaccination drives.

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The nurse and midwife was found guilty of professional misconduct today and ordered to undergo counselling by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal following action by the Health Care Complaints Commission.

"For completeness we also find that practitioner's behaviour was also objectively unethical," the tribunal decision said.

Parmenter went on leave at the end of September 2021, when healthcare staff had been ordered to receive their first COVID-19 vaccination to continue working.

She tried to get a vaccine that day at a Griffith pharmacy, inspecting a consulting room before booking an appointment for two days later.

Despite being on leave at the time, Parmenter wore her NSW Health nursing uniform with a long-sleeve shirt underneath to the appointment on October 2, 2021.

"(I was) thinking if I walked in there with my work uniform on they'd be less suspecting of me," she later said.

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Parmenter replaced the vaccines in two syringes with another liquid in the 95 seconds she spent alone after asking a pharmacist and her relative to leave the room so she could remove her long-sleeve shirt.

She returned to the pharmacy with the family member four weeks later, ostensibly for a second vaccination.

Parmenter again wore her nurse's uniform despite being on leave and asked for privacy, raising a pharmacist's suspicions.

They looked at the CCTV footage, believing that the woman was tampering with the vaccines.

One of the pharmacy's owners then confronted Parmenter in the consulting room.

"I am making sure you're giving the correct dose to us," the nurse responded.

Parmenter later told the pharmacist she was "just trying to dilute the vaccine" to make it gentler on her relative.

After apologising, the nurse and her relative were given genuine doses.

The tribunal did not accept Parmenter as a credible witness unless her testimony was supported by others due to inconsistencies in her evidence, implausible holes in her memory and lies she told police.

Asked why she had waited until the end of a six-month period while eligible to be vaccinated as a healthcare worker, Parmenter said among other reasons that transmission rates for the virus were lower in the summer months.

"Patently, March to September is not 'over the summer months'," the tribunal said.