A 10-year-old boy has been captured surfing over what appears to be a great white shark about 2.5 metres long in the New South Wales Hunter region.

Eden Hasson was out with his father, Chris Hasson, his sister and some friends for a twilight surf at the northern end of Samurai Beach earlier this week.

Mr Hasson was standing on rocks taking photographs of his son when he noticed something large in the water.

Ten-year-old Eden Hasson rode over a great white shark in NSW. (Facebook/Chris Hasson)

Speaking with the TODAY Show this morning Mr Hasson said it was a "one in a million shot".

"(It was the) right place, right time," he said.

"Or wrong place, wrong time, depending on how you see it," he added with a laugh.

Mr Hasson said he had seen reports from shark experts who said the shark’s open mouth was not a sign it was trying to attack.

"From all reports, I think the shark was startled more than anything," he said.

He added that he was excited for his son because it's "a good story for him to tell on the first day of school".

Eden said he wasn’t scared after seeing the photo.

Eden Hasson appears unaware of the shark. (Facebook/Chris Hasson)

"I was shocked but I wasn’t too scared," he said.

"If I was on the wave and I saw it I probably would’ve freaked out and fell off."

The series of photographs taken by Mr Hasson show Eden less than a metre away from the shark, which appears to have rolled over onto its back.

Chris Hasson took a photograph of his son riding a wave without realising the shark was there. (Facebook/Chris Hasson)

“Lucky he didn’t fall off,” Mr Hasson wrote on Facebook.

“This photo is going straight to the pool room. Not every day you get a photo surfing over a big white."

The post has been shared close to 300 times since it was posted yesterday and attracted hundreds of comments.

Mr Hasson told the Newcastle Herald the experience has not deterred him or his children from going back into the surf, instead it’s created greater awareness of what’s out there in the ocean.