The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is warning of damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall for parts of NSW this afternoon.

The thunderstorms are moving towards the east to north-east, affecting the Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury, Wollondilly, Wingecarribee, Greater Wollongong and Sydney areas.

The BoM forecast the storms would affect Springwood and Lake Nepean by 3.45pm and Bargo and the area south of Wilton by 4.15pm.

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The Blue Mountains suburb of Springwood was coated in a blanket of hail this afternoon as the storm passed over.

A more general severe thunderstorm warning is also current for the Northern Rivers, Illawarra and parts of the Mid North Coast, Metropolitan, Central Tablelands, Northern Tablelands and Hunter districts.

Virtually all other parts of the country will also receive a soaking over the next ten days, with Weatherzone warning "a series of weather systems" loom.

The SES has carried out at least 13 rescues in the past 24 hours across the state.

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Fourteen flood warnings remain active with major flooding still occurring on the Macquarie, Namoi and Lachlan rivers.

More wet weather is set to drench the state, as a trough threatens to spill thunderstorms and heavy rain over the next three days.

The BoM said this will exacerbate flood risks.

"Flooding continues across many inland catchments and many other catchments are saturated," it wrote.

"Showers and thunderstorms moving through with a trough over the next couple of days may exacerbate existing flooding and possibly lead to renewed riverine flooding."

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A strong wind warning is in place for Byron Coast and Coffs Coast until Wednesday at least.

Showers and a possible storm are forecast for Sydney, with falls between 3mm to 4mm possible.

Over the next three days, the heaviest rain is expected to fall over Victoria and southern NSW.

Up to 50mm is forecast for stretches of the coast, with isolated falls of 100mm possible.

That is just one of the systems to play out above Australia over the next week and a half.

'Unseasonable' rainfall coming for Top End

Weatherzone said north-west WA's Kimberley and Pilbara districts will cop an "unseasonable drenching".

"Numerous weather systems are expected to impact the country in the next 10 days or so, including a low pressure trough which could deliver significant unseasonable rainfall to north-west WA's Kimberley and Pilbara districts early next week," it wrote, pointing to modelling of accumulated rainfall.

"Broome is located right where one of those reddish blobs sits, suggesting potential rainfall in the 50-80 mm range.

"Those two regions experience almost no rainfall on average at this time of year."

Darwin will also receive an early October drenching.

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Japan protested to Russia on Tuesday over the detention of a Japanese consulate official on espionage allegations, denying the allegations and accusing Russian authorities of abusive interrogation.

The official was detained on September 22 and interrogated with his eyes covered, his hands and head pressed and immobilised, Japan's Foreign Ministry said, prompting it to lodge a protest and demand an apology.

On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry notified Japan's Embassy in Moscow that the official had been declared persona non grata, or an undesirable person, on grounds he conducted illegal espionage activity.

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It ordered him to leave the country within 48 hours.

“The alleged illegal activity insisted by the Russian side is completely groundless,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

Matsuno said Japan's Vice Foreign Minister, Takeo Mori, summoned Russia's ambassador and strongly protested, demanding a formal apology from the Russian government and measures to prevent a recurrence.

The Russian authorities' treatment of the consulate official was “intimidating” during the interrogation, adding that such handling of consular officials violates the Vienna convention and a Japan-Russo treaty over consular affairs, Matsuno said.

“It is extremely regrettable and absolutely unacceptable,” Matsuno said.

The consular official has since been released with no health problems and is set to return to Japan on Wednesday.

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The dispute is the latest example of worsening ties between the two countries over Japan’s sanctions against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Japan and Russia had expelled a number of diplomats, while Russia scrapped peace negotiations with Japan that includes talks on Russian-held disputed islands that Japan says the Soviets took at the end of World War II.

Russia said Monday that it had detained a Japanese consulate official based in the eastern city of Vladivostok for soliciting “restricted” information, according to Russian news agencies.

“A Japanese diplomat was detained red-handed while receiving, in exchange for financial reward, restricted information about Russia’s cooperation with another country in the Asia-Pacific region,” the FSB, the KGB’s successor agency, was cited as saying through its press service, without specifying the third country.

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The FSB identified the official as Tatsunori Motoki, accusing him of seeking out information on “the impact of Western sanctions” on the surrounding Primoriye region, according to news agencies.

The Kremlin has repeatedly referred to Japan as a “hostile” country, a designation it shares with the US, EU countries and their Western allies, since Tokyo joined them in slapping sanctions on Moscow after Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24.

In its latest sanctions, Japan's government on Monday banned the export of materials that may be used for chemical weapons to 21 Russian organisations, including science laboratories.

The measure was approved by the Cabinet following a decision by Group of Seven foreign ministers last week.

Former Adelaide Crows player Deni Varnhagen has lost her court challenge to South Australia's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Varnhagen, who is also a nurse, took her case to the SA Supreme Court after a declaration under the state's Emergency Management Act required her to be vaccinated to work in the health system.

Her decision not to get the jab also resulted in the Crows placing her on their inactive list last season because of the AFL's requirements for all players to be fully vaccinated.

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The league removed that requirement in July this year.

In a judgment today, Justice Judy Hughes found that after SA's emergency declaration in relation to the pandemic was removed earlier this year, Varnhagen's case became hypothetical and lacked utility.

In those circumstances, she said the action was dismissed.

Justice Hughes also ruled against Varnhagen on key questions of law related to the transfer of the vaccine requirements for health workers into public health laws.

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She said that transfer, enacted by the SA parliament, was valid.

Varnhagen was initially joined in her action by five other people, another nurse, a childcare worker, a teacher and two police officers.

But only one of those, fellow nurse Courtney Millington, continued with the case.

During the Supreme Court hearings, Varnhagen argued that she was not able to make an informed decision regarding the effectiveness or the safety of any of the three COVID-19 vaccines available.

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"I believe that, because of the directions, I am being left with no choice as to whether I receive a COVID-19 vaccine," she contended.

"I believe that I am being coerced into doing so in order to keep my employment."

The intensive care nurse told the court that she had not worked at Adelaide's Flinders Medical Centre since November last year and had taken a job as a labourer to meet her expenses.

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Millington received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine but decided not to have a second after suffering an adverse reaction.

She sought an exemption on medical grounds, but it was refused.

Their legal team has indicated the court decisions will be appealed.

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