A series of photographs show a 10-year-old in a close call with a great white shark north of Newcastle, with the boy unknowingly surfing over the top of it.

It happened as Eden Hasson was surfing off Samurai Beach at Port Stephens late on Tuesday.

His dad Chris Hasson captured the shark, also known as a white pointer, on camera with its mouth open, swimming under his son.

Beachgoers stunned by photographs

Mr Hasson said he was gobsmacked by what he saw.

"It was just one of those one-in-a-million shots," he said.

"There were a couple of guys out, including Eden, and I was on the rocks."

Mr Hasson said he started taking photographs after taking a dip himself.

"I had been swimming in and out with flippers with my five-year-old and 12-year-old daughters and decided I had enough of that," he said.

"My daughter came in 10 minutes earlier and that probably proves why women live longer than men.

"I saw something just before that and I was about to call him in but he took off on a wave and just click, click, click, click, click.

"Then I just had a gut feeling and so I zoomed in and went wow.

"I quickly called everyone in and obviously the rest is history."

Southern Cross University marine biology associate professor Danny Bucher said it appeared to be a white pointer, trying to roll away from the surfboard.

"Well, it certainly does look like a great white," Dr Bucher said.

"From the look of it, it looks like it's started to roll on its back as it has gone through the wave.

"That would probably indicate that it's trying to actually swim away from the approaching board."

Ten-year-old undeterred by close shave

"Everyone was pretty amazed on the beach," Mr Hasson said.

"Eden said 'Lucky I didn't fall off, Dad'."

"You know Eden has gone for a surf today already, so we are not too worried about it — you just have to be aware.

"You put your seatbelt on in the car and you don't worry about a car accident; you just have to be aware."

Mr Hasson said there had been a rotting whale carcass nearby for about six months, which may have attracted the shark to the area.

He said he also noticed a school of mullet swim by just before he took the photos.