The remarkably inactive cyclone season off Australia's north has finally been disturbed by a major storm, as Tropical Cyclone Blanche brings heavy rain and strong winds to the Top End around Darwin.

The storm, ranked as a category-1 tempest, is likely to strengthen into a category-2 cyclone on Monday afternoon when it is forecast to make landfall on the north Kimberley coast east of Kalumburu.

Tropical Cyclone Blanche tracks towards the Northern Territory coastline. Credit:Japanese Meteorological Agency

So far this season, no cyclone has made landfall on mainland Australia. If Cyclone Blanche crosses the coast as expected, it will be the latest on record for the first landfall on the continent during a season.

The storm has "sustained winds near the centre of 75 kilometres per hour with wind gusts to 100 kilometres per hour", the Bureau of Meteorology said in a warning issued on Sunday.