Labor Party President Wayne Swan’s claims that Tropical Cyclone Alfred no longer poses an immediate threat to millions of people in Brisbane has been contradicted by the Bureau of Meterology, as the weather bomb puts plans for an April 12 election at risk.

Residents in Cyclone Alfred’s danger zone have been warned they only have hours to escape, while there are fears an entire coastal city in northern NSW will be inundated with water.

BoM senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury gives an update on Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Qantas hopes to resume flights into and out of Brisbane on Sunday after Tropical Cyclone Alfred. It could take months or even years for the Sunshine Coast's beaches to recover from Cyclone Alfred.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred has slowed its approach and is now expected to cross the south-east Queensland coast on Friday afternoon.

The Bureau of Meteorology is now predicting Cyclone Alfred to cross the coast Friday night or early Saturday morning, most likely between Noosa and Coolangatta.

The exact trajectory of Tropical Cyclone Alfred shifted overnight from a crossing north of Brisbane down to the city’s southern suburbs, with the Bureau of Meteorology issuing a warning area from Double Island Point, south of K’Gari (Fraser Island) to north of Grafton in NSW.

The current modelling shows that Cyclone Alfred will make landfall somewhere between K’gari Island (formerly Fraser Island) and the Queensland-NSW border, with Brisbane in the firing line on Thursday and Friday. Here is the latest map from the weather bureau, showing Alfred’s predicted path:

As millions wait for Cyclone Alfred to make landfall, not everyone is looking to the Bureau of Meteorology for their information.