A family in Adelaide's north-east had a lucky escape when a boat in their garage exploded into flames.

Rory Carter and his friend were working on restoring the vintage boat yesterday afternoon at Sunburn Court, Greenwith, when a spark ignited petrol after they started the engine.

READ MORE: Garage erupts in flames from scooter battery spark

Just moments before the fire ignited, two of Mr Carter's young children had been playing in the boat their dad was working on.

"The kids were standing in the boat, it would have blown them away," Mr Carter told 9News.

"The fire itself just went whoosh, I'm surprised it didn't take our eyebrows off.

"It would have been 30 seconds – it was a massive fireball."

Inside the house, Mr Carter's wife Olivia heard the loud bang and rushed to grab their three young children to get them outside.

"As I went, I saw a big flame coming from the garage, so I quickly rushed to get the kids out, I actually carried all three at once," Ms Carter said.

Too young to realise the danger inside, security footage showed the little ones repeatedly trying to run back into the house with Ms Carter chasing after them.

READ MORE: Man found dead after granny flat goes up in flames in Sydney

The fire ripped through the garage and caused the ceiling to cave in inside the house.

The house is now heavily water and smoke damaged with an estimated $300,000 repair bill.

While the damage is covered by insurance, the family are now out of a home until they can start a rebuild.

"It's devastating, you put your life into a house and it's just taken away just like that," Mr Carter said.

He is now joining fire authorities in issuing a warning about carrying out work at home when petrol is involved.

Bunnings stores across Sydney are set to reopen their doors to all on Monday, except for those in the LGAs of concern.

Bunnings managing director Mike Schneider said the decision followed the announcement that 70 per cent of the eligible NSW population had been vaccinated against COVID-19.

"The acceleration of the vaccine rollout and the increase in opportunities for our team to get vaccinated has given us the confidence to re-open our stores in Greater Sydney," he said.

READ MORE: NSW records 1288 cases of COVID-19 as seven million vaccine target hit

Mr Schneider said Bunnings staff in Sydney had been getting vaccinated at drive-through vaccination clinics the company set up for its team in western Sydney.

He said comprehensive COVID-safe measures would remain in all stores, including security staff at every store to monitor compliance and a one per 10 metre density limit.

"We will continue to encourage customers in Greater Sydney to utilise our contactless Drive & Collect and delivery options for non-urgent items, in keeping with the current public health guidance," he said.

READ MORE: Five arrested after teen stabbed to death in western Sydney brawl

Stores will open at their usual times on Monday 6 September.

Stores in LGA areas of concern will remain open to trade customers only.

Click & Deliver and Drive & Collect service will still be available to all.

A toddler stranded in NSW away from his parents for months will be granted an exemption to return home to Queensland.

Memphis Francis, three, was staying at his grandparents' Riverina cattle farm, in south-western NSW, when the Queensland Government shut its border.

His parents live in Howard, on Queensland's Fraser Coast.

READ MORE: Australia reaches new vaccination milestone

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt today slammed Queensland's strict border restrictions as a "profound moral failure".

Less than an hour later, Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the family would be reunited.

She also said the boy's parents and grandparents had not applied for an exemption.

"We have to be asked to be able to give an exemption," Dr Young said.

She said the boy was granted an exemption today after the Queensland government was made aware of the circumstances.

He will be flown into Queensland to undertake home quarantine

But Memphis' mother Dominique Facer told 9News the response was "absolute spin" and she had only heard the exemption had been granted via the media.

"My mother and myself have both contacted Queensland Health numerous times."

The Queensland border is closed to all people from interstate hotspots like New South Wales and Victoria, save for a small handful of essential workers, creating chaos in particular for families and businesses in the NSW border towns of Tweed and Coolangatta.

Yesterday it was announced Queensland will allow a small number of people back into the state from hotspots around the country from this Saturday after a pause on the hotel quarantine intake.

Ms Palaszczuk said that just 50 families will be permitted into the hotel quarantine system, which is at near-capacity.

Laws giving employers the power to fire someone for sexual harassment have passed the federal parliament.

The Respect at Work bill defined harassment as "unwelcome and demeaning conduct that could reasonably be anticipated to offend, humiliate or intimidate".

"This legislation is a critical step forward and will enhance protections against sexual harassment and other forms of sex discrimination in Australian workplaces," Attorney-General, Michaelia Cash said.

READ MORE: PM's department refuses bid to access $660m car park documents

Labor and the Greens had pushed for tougher laws, with Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese describing the bill as "half-hearted".

New protections for women – put forward in the legislation – extended the timeframe for a complainant to make a complaint from six months to two years.

Labor wanted to allow unions to bring forward legal action on behalf of victims, and says it will introduce that should it win the next election.

READ MORE: The small but significant new addition to Parliament House

"Unlike the Liberals, an Albanese Labor Government will deliver these changes as part of fully implementing all 55 recommendations of the Sex Discrimination Commissioner's groundbreaking Respect@Work Report," a joint statement from Shadow Minister for Women Tanya Plibersek, Shadow Minister for Industrial Tony Burke, and Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said.

Under the changes from the Coalition an employee will also be granted compassionate leave if they or their partner has a miscarriage.

They're the small start-ups with catchy names trying to cash in on the booming $7 billion online grocery market fuelled by Sydney's lockdown.

Promising delivery times of just 15 minutes, they usually have a specially curated shopping list and a team of drivers and riders ready to drop your groceries at your door.

In the past month or so, a handful of businesses have sprung up, looking to take advantage of the huge growth in online grocery shopping.

The full story on 9News at 6pm.

READ MORE: Woolworths and Uber Eats team up to deliver fresh groceries in an hour

They won't have anywhere near the range of Coles and Woolworths, but you also won't have to wait days for a delivery window as the two leaders struggle to meet demand.

According to Ibisworld, Australia's online grocery market is expected to increase 46.2 per cent this year.

QUT Business School Professor Gary Mortimer says delivery times are crucial.

"Time has become the currency of e-commerce retailers today, it's all about speed of delivery not necessarily price," he told 9News.

"Right now Coles and Woolworths are really struggling to keep up with the online demand. It's certainly a beneficial time to have these services available."

The upside for consumers is the more players, the quicker they'll get their groceries. But the competition is unlikely to have an impact on price.

Voly has launched in the past fortnight, promising delivery in the inner city within 15 minutes with the aim of "teleporting the grocery store" to customers with a flat delivery fee of $2.99. They have around 1500 items to choose from. A full-service supermarket has between 20,000 and 25,000 lines.

Co-founders Thibault Henri and Mark Heath have supply chain, logistics and food experience between them.

"We deliver groceries in 15 minutes; we do the pick and pack in our store here in three minutes," Mr Henri said.

"We've got about 1500 products and that's increasing every day. You can get everything from your fruit and veg to your cleaning products all the way to your baby products," Mr Heath.

And while you're making pasta, if you forget the sauce, it can be at your door within minutes.

Geezy Go! has just launched in 60 Sydney suburbs promising prices equal to or better than the leading supermarkets with a flat delivery fee of $3.99 and groceries at your doorstep within 20 minutes.

"LGAS are in lockdown, people do not want to leave their homes. This is a great service for them," Geezy's Dhruv Kohli said.

Send is launching in metro Sydney and Melbourne with most of the items found in a usual supermarket but they also plan to source fresh produce from local vendors. It's promising delivery within 15 minutes. With speeds like that, delivery areas are limited.

The Hills Milk Run has seen smaller players come and go. They source fresh produce straight from farmers and local suppliers and this lockdown, has added fresh flowers to the shopping list. The husband and wife team deliver to 35 suburbs throughout The Hills district and around Parramatta twice a week. The minimum spend is $40 and the focus is on freshness and quality rather than speed.

Pretty Green, which started as a gift store in 2019 has just added an online supermarket app that comes with free sustainable delivery. Delivery is within two hours but the aim is to reduce that to minutes.

In coming times, it's unlikely a freely moving Sydney will be able to sustain all these new businesses. Professor Mortimer believes it's more likely a couple will survive if they team up with a smaller independent grocery chain like IGA.

Widespread rain and thunderstorms are predicted across Australia over the next four days.

The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted damaging winds over Victoria and South Australia today, with heavy rainfall and potential flash flooding developing over the southeast states tomorrow.

Flood warnings are current for several catchments in southern NSW, with the potential for further flood watches and warnings.

READ MORE: Sydney patient's self-inflicted bout of diarrhoea and vomiting from unproven drug

A northwest cloud band, which developed over Western Australia and South Australia this morning, will deliver wet weather to central and southeastern parts of the country.

The cloud band will progress east in the coming days, which will cause widespread rain and thunderstorms in parts of South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales.

Residents in the nation's southern states can also expect damaging winds and plummeting temperatures thanks to a cold front.

READ MORE: Australia Post to suspend parcel collections from eCommerce for three days

Gusts over 90km/h are expected over the northern suburbs of Melbourne and the Dandenong Ranges late Thursday and early Friday.

The rain will become heavier on Friday, as the cloud band moves from South Australia and spreads through to western NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the Red Centre.

https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1433234967761457155

Weatherzone predicts the heaviest rain will develop in Tasmania and Victoria.

Severe thunderstorm warnings may be issued by the Bureau of Meteorology.

READ MORE: Woolworths boss' letter after more than 3000 employees forced into iso

On Saturday the rain will continue, spreading over central and eastern Australia.

Flooding is possible in parts of eastern Victoria and south-eastern NSW.

On Sunday, showers will continue in eastern Victoria and south-eastern NSW as the rain band stretches from northern NSW, southern Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Cold temperatures are likely to continue into next week, as southerly winds move through the southern parts of the country.

MIQ officials have transferred a family with Covid-19 to a different isolation facility after a mum angry about her children’s meal had a highly visible meltdown – leaving her room against regulation, screaming profanities at staff…

A fight over a load of washing led to a Melbourne man almost stabbing his elderly neighbour to death at their Elwood public housing complex, a court has heard.

Brett Vaisey, 57, fronted the Supreme Court today, pleading guilty to attempted murder.

Vaisey repeatedly stabbed his elderly female neighbour, Annick Henenberg, with a 20cm kitchen knife as she headed to their communal laundry about 7.25pm on Australia Day – 26 January – last year.

READ MORE: Melbourne mum to spend at least 13 years behind bars for killing aunt

The court heard Vaisey was caught on CCTV rushing at Ms Henenberg with the knife moments before the attack, and three people witnessed the vicious assault.

Ms Henenberg had also started an audio recording on her phone right before the incident, which captured Vaisey berating her during the attack.

"Piece of sh*t, die," he was recorded saying.

"If I'm going to jail it's worth it, you know what I mean."

The court heard the woman immediately fell to the ground after Vaisey first stabbed her.

He then continued to stab her until the knife's blade came off the handle, before he kicked and punched her to the head.

A neighbour grabbed Vaisey to end the attack.

Police arrived and Ms Henenberg was taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition.

Vaisey told police, "I didn't want to do it but she provoked me".

The court heard there was a history of disputes between Vaisey and Ms Henenberg.

On the day of the attack they had fought about the communal washing machine.

He had told her to stop using it, complaining it was making too much noise next to his unit.

About an hour before the incident, another neighbour had called police to the complex about Vaisey, reporting he had been standing outside the complex with a large knife.

Vaisey told police Ms Henenberg had been going back and forth to the laundry to provoke him.

Police left the scene less than half an hour before the attack unfolded.

Vaisey's lawyers told the court he had serious mental health issues that had a causal link to the offending.

Vaisey has since apologised and feels "guilt and shame" for the attack.

He will be sentenced at a later date.

A car containing a five-month-old baby has been stolen from a garage in Molendinar on the Gold Coast this afternoon.

The baby was strapped into the rear child seat of a white Mazda 3 with Queensland registration places 173 WTW, parked in the garage of an address on Stringybark Drive about 4.25pm.

Police urge anyone who sees this vehicle to not approach it and immediately contact police.

More to come.

A man claiming to be the alleged Covid-19-infected escapee from an Auckland MIQ facility has detailed on social media how he managed to make his way home – and shared a video of the moments before his dramatic arrest by police officers…