The tree has fallen across both lanes, causing delays for motorists.

Stars just hours from the start line of an epic cross-country triathlon.

The Easter long weekend rush home has begun, with major traffic headaches across multiple states.

In NSW and Queensland, traffic is heavy as holidaymakers return home ready to go back to work after the public holiday.

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Transport bosses are warning the major route back into Sydney from the north, the M1, is being hit with "significant delays" due to holiday traffic, as well as earlier crashes and a breakdown.

One of three southbound lanes of the motorway was closed just past the Pacific Highway overpass earlier today.

While all lanes have reopened, southbound traffic is heavy back across the Hawkesbury River Bridge.

Live Traffic is also warning of heavy traffic on the Pacific Highway southbound at Tomago in the Hunter region, and the New England Highway from Hexham to Tarro near Newcastle.

The Great Western Highway eastbound from Little Hartley to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains is also busy, as is the Hume Motorway northbound from Pheasants Nest to Menangle Park in Macarthur near Sydney.

On the NSW South Coast, northbound traffic is easing on the Princes Highway through Ulladulla, Milton, Wandandian and Nowra.

Motorists are advised to drive to the conditions, allow plenty of time and visit Live traffic for updates.

Queensland

In Queensland, the Sunshine Motorway on the Sunshine Coast is already congested, Queensland Roads said.

Warnings are also in place for heavy traffic from the Sunshine Coast down to Brisbane on the Bruce Highway.

Delays are also expected on the Pacific Motorway around the Gold Coast, especially between Burleigh Heads and Currumbin Waters as well as Palm Beach and Reedy Creek.

Check Queensland Traffic for the latest updates.

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Armed police have swooped on a property near where shots were fired.

Houses have lost roofs and trees have been ripped down after a tornado tore through the Tasman region on New Zealand's South Island.

Fire and Emergency NZ responded to calls for assistance following a tornado at 1.20pm on Monday.

A statement issued at 2.37pm local time said approximately 12 houses in the Moutere area had their roofs lifted or had lost their roof entirely.

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"Additionally, a tree fell onto a car with a person inside in Māpua, but the person was able to get out of the car without requiring assistance and reported only minor abrasions.

"There have also been a report of a tree falling onto power lines, as well as a tree falling across a driveway."

MetService issued a heavy rain warning and severe thunderstorm watch for the area at 12.47pm.

Heavy rain was expected to last until 6pm while the thunderstorm watch was in place until 3.30pm.

READ MORE: Beaches along NSW coast closed as cold blast hits

MetService meteorologist Dan Corrigan said without photo evidence the storm could not be declared as a tornado, but there was a possibility.

There was a risk of large hail, heavy downpours and damaging winds until midday on Tuesday.

"There's a line of vigorous thunderstorms that's fast moving west to east across Nelson, Tasman and then on to Marlborough.

"The worst of it is definitely happening right now with these particularly vigorous thunderstorms that have just moved across, but there is still a risk of more heavy showers and thunderstorms around the rest of the day going into midday tomorrow.

"What we've seen is there's a risk of these strong wind gusts and fast-moving thunderstorms of 80 to 100km/h and then an outside risk of small tornados.

"It could be that there was some tornadic activity and if there's footage of a funnel cloud then that's sure evidence, but these damaging wind gusts can just occur from these really vigorous fast-moving thunderstorm cells as well."

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Fire and Emergency shift manager Blair Walklin said crews were busy responding to weather-related call-outs across Nelson and Tasman.

"We had what's been described as a twister and heavy rain go through the Nelson and Tasman area, and we've received multiple calls to some roofs lifting on properties."

A MetService post on Twitter said there were three main lines of thunderstorms all moving east.

One was crossing Nelson city, moving towards Marlborough, another was between the North and South islands, heading to Kāpiti Coast, and the other was east of Taranaki.

Network Tasman was experiencing outages across Upper and Lower Moutere, Richmond, Māpua, Takaka, Rīwaka and surrounding areas.

The largest faults had been in Golden Bay and Mōtueka, but power had since been restored, operations manager Robert Derks said.

"It was quite a violent wee storm, it passed through quite quickly with lots of lightning and tonnes of rain."

Derks said trees had fallen down over lines and other faults had risen during the storm, but staff were working to restore power as soon as possible.

READ MORE: Tropical cyclone could become Category 4 in Western Australia

"We're narrowing in on the areas and I will put a post up once we know a bit more, but at the moment we're still just dealing with working with what we know."

Tasman Mayor Tim King had been in contact with emergency responders who told him about the tornado that quickly tore through the region.

"It's been an interesting morning, thunderstorm, heavy rain and strong winds," King said.

"There was a tornado through part of Tasman out towards Māpua and Mōtueka.

"Fire and Emergency NZ are managing it, so they're running all the comms and communications. "

King urged people to keep themselves safe, stay home and only drive if necessary.

"Any time there's wild weather just be careful driving, don't really go out and have a nosy."

A spokesperson for Tasman Civil Defence said staff were ready to assist the community with welfare support if necessary.

This article was originally published on Stuff and has been reproduced with permission.

MetService says Nelson is under a severe thunderstorm watch.

Liquidators appointed to manage the collapse of failed construction giant Porter Davis have shut down a bid submitted by a businessman.

Amit Miglani had said he would aim to complete all 1700 unfinished homes if his 11-hour deal was accepted by Grant Thornton, the appointed liquidators.

In another twist, Grant Thornton said it doesn't believe Miglani's offer was credible.

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The country's 12th largest home builder suddenly halted work on 1700 homes in Victoria and Queensland on March 31 after it collapsed into an estimated $20 million funding hole.

Hundreds of other customers are deeply concerned they have lost their entire deposits after signing contracts for homes yet to get underway.

Grant Thornton said the offer from Miglani, which was backed by a conglomerate of investors and made by his company MIG and Sons, did not prove to be genuine.

"While we have no reason to doubt Miglani's intention, we do not believe this is a credible offer to acquire the Porter Davis Group," a Grant Thornton spokesperson said.

"Miglani has not undertaken any due diligence and is unable to complete a transaction in an expedited timeframe which is a key requirement of the liquidators."

Miglani told 3AW earlier today that his offer would entail "buying the whole (Porter Davis) business, keeping all the jobs, keeping all the subcontractors".

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He said the goal would be to finish all unbuilt homes, including those who had signed contracts and were waiting for work to start.

Miglani claimed to have been in discussions with other building companies who could help step up to finish work, but he also indicated that management at Porter Davis should be kept on.

"Keeping them alive, that's probably the best bet at the moment," he said.

In 2021, Miglani was sentenced to a community corrections order for taking nearly $100,000 out of his real estate agency's trust account and spending it on luxury cars and private school fees.

Magistrate Tara Hartnett described Miglani's offending at the time as "serious" and indicated his guilty plea had likely spared him time behind bars.

Miglani said his motivation to act now on the Porter Davis deal was because the company was "one of the biggest assets" in the country and "I really feel that it should be saved".

"The community is the one who's going to suffer at the end of the day," he said.

"There'll be a lot of losses, there'll be a lot of life savings gone."

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https://omny.fm/shows/3aw-breakfast-with-ross-and-john/rescue-bid-eleventh-hour-porter-davis-offer-made/embed

Earlier this month, 9News reported that disgruntled out-of-pocket tradies were being accused of vandalising construction sites after the collapse.

Devastated customers were padlocking fences and installing security cameras to ensure their new homes weren't targeted.

A spokesperson for liquidator Grant Thornton said an "extremely challenging environment" had directly contributed to Porter Davis' collapse.

READ MORE: Two men drown at NSW beaches on Easter Sunday

They also blamed "rising input costs, supply chain delays, labour shortages, and a drop in demand for new homes in 2023" for impacting liquidity.

At the time of collapse, Porter Davis had around 470 employees and many subcontractors on its sites.

The construction sector hit severe headwinds during the pandemic, and at least 20 building companies folded in 2022.

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