A cyclone watch has been issued for south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales as Oma continues its slow, steady path towards Australia’s east coast.

On Thursday afternoon, the category-two system was already whipping up dangerous surf conditions, closing all Gold Coast beaches and most on the Sunshine Coast, but was not expected to make landfall.

Large swells coinciding with king tides were expected to cause erosion, and communities from Bundaberg in Queensland to Ballina in NSW were under a cyclone watch.

Oma was about 890km north-east of Brisbane, packing wind gusts of up to 130km/h.

It was expected to continue moving towards the south-east Queensland coast on Thursday and Friday, before tracking north-west towards the central Queensland coast on Saturday.

“Although Oma is not expected to make landfall in the coming days, it will be close enough to produce direct impacts along the Queensland and NSW coast,” the bureau has warned.

“Gale-force winds are expected to develop along exposed coastal areas of southern Queensland during Friday, well ahead of Oma, and may extend into coastal parts of northern NSW on Saturday.”

Water levels on the morning high tide may exceed the highest tide of the year by around one metre over the next few days.

People in the cyclone watch zone have been urged to think about what preparations they might need to make if the cyclone threat increases.