Tropical cyclone off Australia weakening

Evacuations of thousands of people, many tourists from offshore island resorts, had been put on hold to see if the storm would weaken from a category four, the second-highest grading, to a category three.

Cyclone Hamish was travelling in a southeastern track parallel to the coast and predicted to move further out to sea in the next 24 hours, Cyclone warning centre forecaster Tony Auden told local media.

"The path has more shifted out to sea and it's more likely to stay out there now," said Auden.