The number of NSW residents cast from their homes by heavy flooding is "trickling down" below 9000, the state's emergency service says.
The SES has started assessing damage in flood-affected areas of NSW after most rivers peaked across the state and evacuation orders slowly lift.
Some 1300 homes around the state have been assessed for damage, with 75 declared "potentially uninhabitable". This does not take into account the potential for repairs to be undertaken, the SES says.
The SES intends to assess about 600 properties in Penrith using aerial reconnaissance with a remote-piloted aircraft and teams on the ground.
There are just under 9000 people in NSW still under evacuation orders, with 76,000 either permitted to return home or released from evacuation warnings.
Most evacuation orders are around Moree and the Clarence River in northern NSW and the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley in northwest Sydney.
"We clearly want to get people back into their homes as soon as possible where floodwaters are receding," SES spokesman Phil Campbell told AAP.
There have been 12,500 SES requests for help since last week and 1000 flood rescues, while there was 618 requests for help in the past 24 hours.
About 500 SES volunteers remain in the field.
Flood evacuation orders were lifted in several areas of northwestern Sydney late on Thursday night including South Creek at Mulgrave and the Hawkesbury River from Wisemans Ferry to Brooklyn and in Vineyard.
Major flooding continued on Friday morning at Maclean in the northern rivers region, while the situation in Grafton and Ulmarra has eased.
"While rivers may be reaching their peak, the flows and the current are very dangerous," Premier Gladys Berejiklian told parliament on Thursday.
"Benign" conditions will hang around the NSW east coast for at least the next couple of days, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
The sheer volume of rain that fell across the state would take time to work its way through river systems, BOM hydrologist Victoria Dodds said.
"We've seen exceptionally high flood levels, high-velocity flows, lots of dangerous debris in these floodwaters," she told reporters on Thursday.
Ms Dodds said flood warnings would likely remain in force across the state, particularly in inland areas, for the days and weeks ahead.
A man died in Glenorie in northwest Sydney on Wednesday and the body of another man was found submerged in a ute in Queensland's southeast.
The SES on Friday advised people returning to their homes to avoid turning power and utilities on until they could be inspected by experts.
