NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says homeless people will be treated "compassionately" when police forcibly remove occupants from Sydney's CBD tent city.
Ms Berejiklian says she expects legislation empowering police to tear down the tents in Martin Place, which passed parliament late on Wednesday, will be enacted on Friday but wouldn't confirm when police will move in to dismantle the camp.
"Everybody knows my attitude, that everybody on the site needs to be treated compassionately, respectfully and in a way in which will help them," she told reporters on Thursday.
The man dubbed the "Mayor of Martin Place", Lanz Priestley, says the camp is still searching for another location in the interim, but the government's promise to fund extra hours at the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross isn't a solution to their needs.
Mr Priestley says those living in the camp aren't "looking for a babysitting service".
"They're looking for something that they can be part of, and that something they can be part of might even be more necessary in rebuilding people than a house," he told AAP.
Wayside Chapel chief executive Rev Graham Long says the service has no space for sleeping, but could offer a warm shower, low-cost meals and support services.
"The Department of Family and Community Services has asked Wayside if we would extend our hours to 11pm closing each night," he said in a statement, clarifying that the department had requested the charity consider operating 24/7 but nothing had been confirmed.
Rev Long pointed out nothing Wayside could do would disguise the lack of affordable housing in the city, a problem he described as "complex".
That lack of housing is the real issue at the heart of the whole debate, according to Mr Priestley, who says revelations about his criminal past that emerged on Thursday were distracting from the problem.
The camp's unofficial leader did not deny he had a criminal history, pointing out there were many in the tent city whose pasts had left them trapped in homelessness.
"It's unfortunate that there's this obfuscation away from the actual issue, which is that these guys don't have anywhere to go of choice," he told AAP.
