The sun is out, most rivers have peaked across NSW and evacuation orders are beginning to lift, but the floodwaters will linger for days.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian shared the "good news" on Thursday morning, but warned the floodwaters that remain are incredibly dangerous.
A man died after his car was trapped in floodwaters in northwest Sydney on Wednesday, and the body of another man was found submerged in a ute in Queensland's southeast.
"All of us were very saddened by the tragic loss of life yesterday," the premier said.
"You may have heard your local river has peaked or that the worst of the rising waters may have may have ceased (but) the currents underneath the surface are very strong and the flows are doing things that don't normally do.
"Please stay out of those floodwaters."
There have been 11,000 calls for help to the NSW State Emergency Service so far, and 950 flood rescues.
Moderate to major flooding is still occurring along a number of rivers, but the focus has turned to the northern rivers where floodwaters are inundating Grafton, Maclean and Ulmarra.
Those in low lying areas of Ulmarra, Bushgrove and Cowper were ordered to evacuate on Wednesday afternoon.
Major flooding is also occurring along the Hawkesbury River and authorities say it's likely to continue at North Richmond and Windsor until the end of the week.
Moree in the northwest, the Upper Hunter around Singleton and parts of the Central Coast are still of concern.
Meanwhile, some of the 20,000 people evacuated across the state have been cleared to return home.
The SES issued an "all clear" notice for the Kempsey CBD and nearby areas late on Wednesday night, as flooding eased on the Macleay River.
More than a dozen evacuation orders remain, and about 60,000 people are on standby to evacuate, with major flood warnings still in place for the Macintyre, Gwydir, Clarence and Hawkesbury, Nepean and Colo rivers.
The SES hopes more people will be taken off standby or cleared to return home by the end of the day, the premier said.
The Bureau of Meteorology predicts there will be no major rain for at least a week.
The reprieve paved the way for defence personnel and emergency service workers to get essential supplies to isolated communities, particularly North Richmond in Sydney's northwest.
Defence personnel have already been embedded in emergency operations centres in areas of concern, and will be part of teams assisting with damage assessments on Thursday.
The ADF's role will be stepped up in the coming days, with troops to be brought in from northern NSW and Newcastle.
"As soon as the all clear has been given, we'll assist with those SES-lead teams in assisting with the clean up," ADF Brigadier Mick Garraway said.
Resilience NSW Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told Nine's Today program the clean up will be dirty, emotional work and that hundreds of firefighters will be among those lending a hand.
"When you think about the last 18 months to two years, (it has been) people on their knees with drought, the devastation of the bushfires, storms and floods back in February last year, COVID throughout 2020 and into '21, and now the extraordinary impacts of this rain event and flooding," he said.
"Our hearts break for these people."
