Residents are stacking sandbags to protect low-lying properties ahead of a tropical cyclone that is forecast to become the first in 51 years to hit the Australian east coast near Brisbane, the nation's third-most populous city.

Alfred is expected to become the first cyclone to cross the coast near Brisbane since Cyclone Zoe hit Gold Coast in 1974 and brought widespread flooding

Schools are closed, public transport has stopped and desperate householders are getting around shortages of sandbags by buying sacks of potting mix as a region of eastern Australia is lashed by wind a