New South Wales bushfires remain at the lowest alert level after rain fell on some fire grounds overnight, while air quality is hazardous in parts of the state.
Early on Saturday morning, 48 fires were still burning in NSW with 20 of those yet to be contained.
Greater Sydney, the Central Coast and parts of the mid-north coast and northern NSW received some rain on Friday, with the Rural Fire Service in a tweet saying crews would identify any new fires from thunderstorms.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Abrar Shabren said that while some firegrounds received rain, most didn't.
The Sydney skyline is seen from Balmain as winds blow smoke from bushfires over the CBD. Source: AAP
"(There wasn't) much reprieve or relief in the far north or north east where fires are burning but certainly in the mid-north coast we did see a good amount of showers," he told AAP on Saturday.
Thick bushfire smoke has blanketed parts of the state in recent days, and air quality remained poor or very poor in parts of Sydney on Saturday morning.
It was also poor in the lower Hunter, Central Coast and South-West slopes regions - while in the Central Tablelands and North-West Slopes, it was considered hazardous.
"We won't see the smoke really go out of Sydney until we see a significant system move in with a change in the wind," Mr Shabren said.
Thick smoke blankets the Illawarra region, Wollongong on Thursday. Source: AAP
He said more thunderstorms and showers were expected to develop on Saturday.
"Possibly up in the north, around where the fires are we could see some thunderstorms develop today and in the next few days as well, but much of the activity will be today," Mr Shabren said.
Some of those thunderstorms on Saturday could be severe, he said, and there's also a change of storms developing in greater western Sydney and moving towards the coast.
