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Supermarket giant Woolworths has teamed up with food delivery service Uber Eats to trial delivering fresh groceries in under an hour.

From next week customers will be able to order fruit and vegetables on the Uber Eats app and have them delivered within 60 minutes.

Twelve Woolworths Metro stores across Sydney and Melbourne are taking part in the initial trial.

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"We see this partnership as a real evolution of that convenient shopping experience for great fresh food and everyday essentials," Woolworths Metro General Manager, Justin Nolan said.

Each customer can select 25 household staples from around 1200 products. As an example, a bag of apples is considered one item.

However, customers will pay for the added convenience. The shop will cost 10 per cent more than if you were in store and the delivery fee is applied on top of that.

"COVID has definitely accelerated consumer demand for convenience, we've seen the delivery business grow significantly, and consumers are wanting increasingly more than just restaurants," Uber Eats Regional General Manager Retail, ANZ, Lucas Groeneveld said.

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After the initial trial period, there are plans to expand the partnership along the east coast.

A network of around 200 Woolworths locations will be available nationally on Uber Eats under the Metro brand by early next year.

Each delivery placed on Uber Eats will be packed by Woolworths personal shoppers before it's passed on to Uber Eats delivery people to fulfil the delivery.

The launch stores are Balaclava, Hadfield and Hawthorn in Melbourne, and Bondi, Maroubra Beach, Padstow, Park Sydney (Erskineville), Pyrmont, Randwick, Redfern, Rose Bay and Rozelle in Sydney.

The deliveries will be available through the Uber Eats app from Monday August 30.

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A "bomb cyclone" is headed for NSW over the next 48 hours, bringing with it a dangerous combination of heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, damaging winds and hazardous surf.

A cold front is expected to sweep along the east coast of the country and will continue to add to the expected heavy rain and thunderstorms as it spreads northeast over Victoria, NSW, the ACT this afternoon.

The front will then move over the Tasman Sea by tomorrow, and cause a low pressure system to quickly intensify near NSW's central coast.

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https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1429554027730190344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

This intensification will cause a hazardous wind, rain and surf along the southern half of the NSW coastline from Tuesday, heading into Wednesday.

Meteorologists have predicted that the impending event could become "bomb cyclone", meaning its centre deepens by 24 hectopascals in the span of day.

Bomb cyclones cause a rapid onset of severe weather when they form close to the coast.

The extreme change comes after Sydney finishes enjoying 15 consecutive winter days above 20 degrees, marking a new record for the city not seen since 1859.

Conditions recorded at Sydney's Observatory Hill registered 20 degrees or more every single day since last Monday, August 9, up until today.

The last time a warm streak like this was recorded in winter was more than 150 years ago, when 10 consecutive days above 20 degrees were reported back in 1859.

READ MORE: Taste of summer on way for Sydney, rain hangs around elsewhere

The unusually mild weather has been attributed to the lack of rain over the last two weeks, as well as no major cold fronts across the NSW east coast.

High surface pressure hovering over the state has also has acted like a shield, preventing cold weather from being swept across the state.

With little else to do under lockdown, residents across Sydney flocked to the state's beaches over the weekend, making the most of the sunny conditions.

Hordes of people along the coast enjoyed the warmth at beaches like Manly, Bondi and Coogee, prompting to police to be on added alert for those not complying with health orders.

READ MORE: NSW records 818 new cases, three additional deaths

However, widespread rainfall is forecast for almost the entirety of the next week, beginning this evening.

The wet weather will also bring a significant drop in temperatures with a peak of 16 degrees expected over the next five days in Sydney's metro.

Tomorrow will peak at just 15 degrees with lows of eight.

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Meanwhile in Canberra, a bizarre weather event has been reported overnight.

As residents across the city slept, an usual temperature increase of more than five degrees occurred in the space of 10 minutes, just before 2am.

Between 1.40 am and 1.50 am, the temperature soared seemingly out of nowhere from 4.5 degrees to 10.2 degrees, an increase of 5.7 degrees.

An hour later, by 2:40 am, it had increased again and sat at 13.3 degrees, an 8.8 degree rise in just one hour.

Meteorologists have since attributed the bizarre occurrence to a series of winds ahead of a cold front crossing south-east Australia.

The winds mixed the warm air sitting above the city with the cooler air at ground level resulting in the change in conditions, a process known as temperature inversion.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released the fourth edition of its Safe Cities index, ranking the safety of 60 major urban centres around the world.

The pastor at a Sydney church busted for holding an illegal sermon in a COVID-19 hotspot last night told a congregation earlier in the day "the lockdowns are over".

NSW Police found 60 people at the Christ Embassy church in Blacktown about 7.30pm after a tip-off to Crime Stoppers.

It was just hours before a curfew which prevents people in high-risk 12 LGAs in Sydney's west and south-west from leaving home between 9pm and 5am came into effect.

READ MORE: NSW records 818 new cases, three deaths

Before authorities arrived and handed out about $35,000 in fines, Sydney pastor Marvin Osaghae gave another sermon earlier in the day.

"In the name of Jesus, we refuse every lockdown in our cities, in the name of Jesus go ahead and pray," he told the congregation.

"We declare the lockdowns are over, in the name of Jesus, lockdowns are over, in the cities of NSW, in the name of Jesus, we declare the lockdowns are over.

"In the cities of NSW, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, Hallelujah father we thank you lord."

The service, which was live-streamed on social media, also included multiple performances by singers and bands not wearing masks.

For the later service, people had travelled from across Sydney's west, police said, including Canterbury-Bankstown, Fairfield and Liverpool, police said.

Thirty adults were fined $1000, and the church was fined $5000.

Police also said there was no QR code check-in system being used by the church.

The Christ Embassy is a Christian megachurch founded by Chris Oyakhilome, also known as "Pastor Chris". Its headquarters are in Lagos, Nigeria.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was "very disheartening" to see the gathering.

"I think that all of us feel the disappointment when people just blatantly ignore what's in place," Ms Berejiklian said at a press conference today.

"We know it is hard.

"And I'm hoping that obviously in the near future, we'll be able to relieve the stress on families and households.

"But it's always disheartening and disappointing when you see people blatantly take it upon themselves to contradict what we know works."

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said today it was a "very disappointing event".

"Regardless of whether it is a soccer match, a church service, it doesn't matter – you cannot gather, as they did, at Blacktown," he said.

Under current COVID-19 restrictions, churches can't open to members of the public, except to hold a funeral service or memorial service. However, a place of worship can host livestream services.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said news of the breach was "disappointing to say the least".

"We know these events are superspreaders in our communities, and I think that we rely on our leaders, whether it's a business leaders, whether it's a business leader or our premier or our church leaders, to do the right thing, and this is just sending the wrong message in the communities," he told Today.

NSW Police Minister David Elliott said he was "actually quite stunned" to hear of the illegal gathering.

"I mean, when you consider that churches are there to profess the message of hope and love and to have those people just endanger communities because they are actually potentially going to spread a virus is extraordinary," he told 2GB.

READ MORE: New lockdown restrictions announced for NSW and Greater Sydney

https://omny.fm/shows/ben-fordham-full-show/dozens-of-people-fined-after-attending-church-in-s/embed?style=cover

Epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws told Today the breach posed "an enormous risk".

"Indoor transmission is higher risk than outdoor transmission," Professor McLaws said.

"They may have had all the windows closed. The airflow change would have been minimal.

"Therefore, if there was one person with infection, particularly Delta, it now has five. It can go through a group very fast.

"Then they could have gone out to others and infected others."

The breach comes as millions of people in Sydney's hotspot suburbs prepare to be living under a curfew for the first time.

From midnight tonight, a tightened stay at home order came into place across 12 local government areas of concern in Greater Sydney.

From 9pm until 5am, residents in these areas must stay at home unless they are an authorised worker, have an emergency or need medical care.

Yesterday NSW recorded 830 cases – the highest daily number for any state or territory since the onset of the pandemic in Australia.

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