Frenzied last-minute lobbying is under way to save the Powerhouse Museum at Ultimo as the NSW cabinet is poised to ratify plans to build a dedicated science and innovation museum in Parramatta.

Three years after the former premier Mike Baird announced plans to move the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences' inner-city site to Parramatta, opposition and government MPs have received personal pleas for intervention from museum supporters, while Labor's Luke Foley is under sustained pressure from within to recant the party's support for Ultimo's closure.

Former NSW premier Mike Baird (right) and then arts minister Troy Grant and MAAS director for the Powerhouse Museum Dolla Merrillees view the new Parramatta location in 2016. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Government options for the site include a staged decommissioing starting with the emptying of the Powerhouse's two permanent galleries, the Turbine and Boiler Halls, and refitting them as new cultural or performance spaces.

The MAAS executive team is preparing to implement a ''change management strategy'' at the Ultimo site as soon as the state government announces the Powerhouse's fate.