As floodwaters start to recede the clean-up has begun in the wake of an ex-tropical cyclone that triggered record rainfall.
But some may recover sooner than others with flooding still hitting communities and around 120,000 homes still without power on Tuesday.
Rain has eased and emergency alerts downgraded in southeast Queensland and northern NSW after ex-tropical cyclone Alfred brought days of wild weather.
"Rivers are receding and the threat of heavy rainfall is disappearing ... with that comes the step towards recovery," Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said.
Damage assessments have begun with residents forced to evacuate starting to return to their homes after a wet week that featured scores of rescues and lots of rain.
Rainfall totals of the past week in southeast Queensland reached almost 1200mm in some areas.
Brisbane was inundated by almost 280mm on Monday alone - the city's biggest 24-hour total in more than 50 years.
However flood warnings remain across the region with many roads and some towns still cut off as the full extent of ex-cyclone Alfred's damage began to be assessed on Tuesday.
In northern NSW there was still some riverine flooding after the State Emergency Service responded to more than 7000 incidents and almost 90 flood rescues since Alfred hit the coast on the weekend.
About 1000 SES volunteers remain in Queensland on standby with army personnel assisting recovery efforts in Hervey Bay on Tuesday after almost 2000 properties were affected by flash flooding.
Two water treatment plants are offline north of Brisbane due to flooding.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate on Tuesday revealed "80 per cent of our beach is gone" due to coastal erosion caused by the ex-cyclone, with a sand pumping barge on its way.
Recovery efforts are underway in the Lockyer Valley west of Brisbane after sirens sounded on Monday warning locals of potential flooding.
Dozens of homes at Grantham were relocated out of low-lying areas in the wake of devastating 2011 floods.
Lockyer Valley Deputy Mayor Chris Wilson believed that kept families out of danger this week.
But other towns in the region were not so lucky with Laidley's CBD inundated and at least 10 businesses submerged.
Ipswich west of Brisbane was breathing a sigh of relief after the Bremer River on Monday stopped shy of its major flood level after inundating homes and businesses.
"It could have been much, much worse," Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding told ABC News.
Southeast Queensland is slowly beginning to reset with supermarkets reopening and Brisbane bus services to return to full service on Wednesday.
The Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sunshine Coast were spared significant rain on Tuesday but Western Downs was set to receive thunderstorms and up to 30mm of rain.
Releases from Somerset and Wivenhoe Dams have begun but were not expected to add to downstream flooding, Seqwater said in a statement.
In NSW, residents began returning home as evacuation orders were lifted.
Lismore local Tina and her son Tyson had to evacuate the home they had been squatting in after escaping domestic violence and returned as quickly as they could by boat.
"Lismore was in absolute fear, they definitely were traumatised," Tina said.
Australian Associated Press
