Tropical Cyclone Anthony has picked up speed and is expected to bring destructive winds to coastal communities as it nears the north Queensland coast.

Anthony is expected to cross the coast near Townsville just after midnight as either a category one or two cyclone.

A cyclone warning continues for Queensland's coastal and island communities from Lucinda to Proserpine and a cyclone watch is on for coastal and island communities from Innisfail to Lucinda and Proserpine to Saint Lawrence.

The category one tropical cyclone was estimated to be 600 kilometres east-north-east of Townsville and 510 kilometres north-east of Bowen just before 5:00am (AEST) today and is expected to make landfall early tomorrow morning.

It may slightly intensify as it approaches the coast, bringing winds that are likely to be at least 95 kilometre per hour, and could reach to 100 kilometres per hour.

Damaging wind gusts are expected around coastal and island communities between Lucinda and Proserpine late today.

As the cyclone approaches the coast, abnormally high tides are expected between Townsville and Bowen, and large waves are likely along the beachfront.

Senior forecaster Vikash Prasad says the predicted wild winds could increase if the system intensifies to a category two.

"The actual destructive core of the system that has the strongest winds will probably be in a very small area between Townsville and Ayr as it crosses the coast," he said.

Townsville SES controller Joyce Scorey says precautions are in place.

"We have some key personnel on standby; we just had a double-check to make sure that our vehicles are fuelled and ready to go; that our store room is accessible and we have ample supply of stores - it's just final preparation stuff," she said.

The city's Mayor Les Tyrell says the region is well prepared.

"We're fairly fortunate at the moment; our dams are certainly full but our rivers and streams are now empty to some extent from the rain we had," he said.

"Ground conditions are still fairly wet so we're probably in as good a position at the moment as we would during the wet season."

Heavy rainfall is expected to develop about the coast and adjacent inland near and to the south of the cyclone extending as far south as Sarina.

Mr Prasad says the very heavy rainfall could bring local flooding.

"It's still got another day to go so as it approaches we should see this cyclone pick up more moisture, so there's still a possibility it could deliver some decent rainfall," he said.

"We could [receive] between a couple of hundred millimetres around coastal regions as it comes near the coast."

He says they are also keeping a close eye on a severe low near Fiji that is expected to develop into a cyclone.

"We've seen a lot of convection and cloud develop around the system," he said.

"There's a good chance the system will continue to develop during the day.

"It remains in the eastern area so it'll be named by Fiji if it develops into a cyclone, which is probably more likely to happen later today."

- ABC/AAP