Waves of up to eight metres were recorded off the Sydney coast overnight, as beachgoers face another day of huge swells pummelling the NSW coastline.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a warning on Tuesday morning for large and powerful surf conditions that are expected to make it hazardous for coastal activities such as swimming, surfing and rock fishing throughout the day.
Waves of up to three metres are forecast to hit Sydney beaches on Tuesday, particularly at south-facing breaks, according to Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke.
Mr Dutschke said the overnight maximum wave height was recorded around the eight-metre mark well off Sydney's coastline, but "we probably won't get to that point from here on in. I'd say we have peaked".
Organisers of the annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibition will keep a close eye on the conditions on Tuesday, after a number of artworks on Tamarama Beach were swallowed by huge swells that surged the length of the beach on Monday afternoon.
One artwork on Tamarama Beach, Fair Dinkum Offshore Processing, by Collingwood artist Bronek Kozka, was destroyed, while two other sculptures, on the walkway between Bondi and Tamarama, were washed into the water. They were A Weighted Embrace by Elyssa Sykes-Smith, and German artist Angelika Summa's Alien: Self consciousness is a virus from outer space.
A Sculpture by the Sea artwork has only been washed away once before in the festival's 20-year history, in 1998.
Mr Dutschke said the intense low-pressure system that was responsible for the cold change that hit Sydney over the weekend was behind the big surf in Sydney. Waves were even larger on the NSW south coast, he said.
The cold change on the weekend delivered Sydney its coldest weekend this late in the year in a decade.
"The reason the swell only peaked late yesterday and overnight was that the low has now come off the NSW coast, directing its energy onto the NSW coast," he said.
"From this point on it will continue to move away, and hence the swell and waves on the Sydney coast will drop, and also the south coast, where conditions have been even bigger.
"The north coast of NSW will get an increase today but it won't be nearly as high as what it got to in Sydney and further south."
The swell is expected to continue to drop on Wednesday and will stay low for the rest of the week and into the weekend.
A top of 26 degrees is forecast in the city on Tuesday rising to 29 degrees on Wednesday, while Sydney's west can expect a maximum temperature of 29 degrees on Tuesday and 30 degrees on Wednesday.
