The weather system drowning Queensland has broken yet another record - this time for the area of land saturated by heavy rain, set 54 years ago.
More than 2000 people are expected to be looking for a dry place to sleep in the southwestern town of St George over the weekend, amid one of the largest floods in Queensland's history.
The Bureau of Meteorology on Friday issued a special statement on the rains, which have flooded an area of Queensland larger than Victoria, and gave central Australia its best rainfall since 2001.
The bureau says the rain event began on February 22 when a strong low pressure system developed over the Top End within a monsoon trough.
From last Sunday (February 28), the monsoon low moved into south-west Queensland, bringing widespread heavy rain, which then moved further east.
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The rain event broke the Australian record for the area receiving 100 millimetres of rain or more.
Daily totals exceeded 100 millimetres over 1.9 per cent of Australia on Tuesday, breaking the previous record of 1.7 per cent set on December 22, 1956.
Last Sunday was the wettest day on record for the Northern Territory, with a territory-wide average of 29.23 millimetres.
Tuesday set a new record for Queensland, with a statewide average of 31.74 millimeters.
Over the 10-day period to Wednesday, the bureau says an estimated 403 cubic kilometres - or 403,000 gigalitres - of rain fell across the NT and Queensland.
Measure gauges under water
Gauges used to measure the Balonne River's height are now under water, with the local council and weather bureau guessing the level will reach 14 metres by Saturday - the highest since recordings began in 1890.
With a chunk of Queensland greater than Victoria under water, Geelong Football Club president Frank Costa is among those with property nearby offering emergency accommodation.
Nationals Senate Leader Barnaby Joyce said Mr Costa, who runs a grape farm about 10 kilometres out of St George, had offered accommodation normally used by grape-pickers.
"Outside my window is something resembling the Mississippi River," Senator Joyce told AAP.
"About 80 per cent of the town is expecting inundation."
The town's nursing home and 10 hospital patients have been evacuated, as the 2700 residents started making plans to stay with family or friends or move to the emergency centre at the showgrounds.
The local hospital, however, will remain open in case of emergencies.
The airport is expected to be closed to fixed-wing aircraft some time on Saturday.
"My first thoughts were our prayers to end the drought have been awesomely successful," said Senator Joyce, who is based in the cotton-growing town.
Choppers on standby
Helicopters are on standby for evacuations, medical emergencies, resupplies and reconnaissance, as roads in and out of the town have been cut off.
Balonne Shire mayor Donna Stewart, who met with emergency chiefs on Friday morning, said at this stage there were no plans to evacuate the entire town.
"We do have emergency aircraft here ... we certainly can get people out if needed, but we are not looking at evacuating the whole town at this point."
The river is expected to peak on Saturday.
Ms Stewart said the latest weather bureau advice on flood levels was "uncharted waters".
"That's quite an increase on what we were expecting yesterday," she told AAP.
"It's massive alright. And I'm quite worried but I don't want to be an alarmist. "But we have no idea where that will take us."
Some cleaning up already begun
In Roma the floodwaters have eased and the cleanup is well under way, but Emergency Management Queensland (EMQ) continues to monitor the situation closely following a small amount of rain overnight.
About 500 homes are flood affected, 200 of these have experienced flooding above the floorboards of their home.
Only six people used the evacuation centre on Thursday night, with most people able to find accommodation with families and friends.
In Charleville, where a cleanup is also under way, more heavy rain fell on Thursday night, with up to 60 people taking shelter in the evacuation centre.
But levels in the swollen Bradleys Gully which runs through the town are starting to fall.
A number of homes and businesses in the tiny town of Bollon have been inundated, but water levels peaked on Thursday night.
Further west, there are fears for Cunnamulla, with a major flood peak of about 10 metres expected early next week, a little higher than the 2008 flood level of 9.91m. The Paroo River crossing at Hungerford, on the Queensland-NSW border, is flooded, with the river expected to hit a record peak by Tuesday.
Since the start of the year, almost 80 per cent of the state's 73 councils have been added to the list of areas eligible for disaster relief.
The federal and state governments have made available concessional loans, freight subsidies and personal hardship payments.
Premier Anna Bligh has launched a public appeal to help those affected by the flooding.
