LIKE a scene from Amity Island in the Jaws movies swimmers in Newcastle have ignored repeated warnings and alarms and are taking to the water despite a 5m monster great white stalking the beaches.

Despite red flags, signs warning of a ‘large shark’ being spotted again and verbal warnings from lifeguards swimmers and surfers are taking the risk and joining the estimated 1700kg predator in its domain.

Beaches have been closed for an unprecedented fifth day today and are likely to be closed again tomorrow, with lifeguards stating they want to wait at least 24 hours after the last-known sighting before reopening the surf to bathers

A single, huge predator is believed responsible for sightings up and down the Newcastle coastline since Saturday, the most recent of which involved it “thrashing” at a police launch near Burwood Beach yesterday afternoon.

A dolphin carcass that washed up on an isolated rock platform yesterday might have fallen prey to the white pointer or another shark, with witnesses saying it had a bite-sized chunk missing from its tail.

A Newcastle City Council spokeswoman said beaches would remain shut for the rest of the day.

“We ask for everyone’s cooperation in remaining out of the water at our beaches until lifeguards are satisfied that the shark has moved out of area waters,” she said in a statement.

“Our lifeguards emphasise that this great white shark is of a size that has not been seen before around Newcastle.

“It appears to be nearly full grown at an estimated five metres in length which would make its weight around 1700 kilos.

“Sightings have been across all beaches, from Stockton to Merewether.

“It is not safe for board riders to be out in the water, even close to shore, as sharks are known to move into the surf zone, hunting prey between where the surf breaks and the shoreline.”

Lifeguards have spent much of the day patrolling the coast on jetskis.

The spokeswoman said they would work extended hours today to warn after-work visitors to the beach not to venture into the water.

“It is unusual for a shark to stay around the same coastal areas for this many days in a row, and we would like to have at least a 24 hour period of no sightings before the beaches are reopened,” she said.

“Another update will be provided as more information is available.”

Meanwhile reckless surfers have defied lifeguards’ shark warnings off Newcastle and continued to risk their lives to catch a wave while the 5m great white lurks nearby.

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Its reappearance prompted lifeguards to sound shark alarms across the city’s main beaches, forcing swimmers and most surfers out of the water. But some flouted the warnings and continued to surf.

Beach inspector Mick Boddy said they were potentially putting themselves in danger.

“We can advise them but after that they go in at their own risk,” he said. “It’s hard to keep surfers out ­because there are waves out there to surf, but they’ve been surfing in packs rather than by themselves.”

Mr Boddy said lifeguards got a radio call about 2.30pm from a police launch off the unpatrolled Burwood Beach, south of Merewether, saying the great white had been spotted.

“It’s come up, thrashed at the boat a bit and gone underneath it,” Mr Boddy said.

“They were able to get a good view of it and confirmed it’s a 4m-plus great white with a massive girth on it.”

The shark was spotted earlier in the day further north off Stockton Beach, but Mr Boddy said it surfaced most in the afternoon.

“The past four days it has been spotted, it’s been coming up to the high tide in the afternoon — that’s when it seems to be most active,” he said.

Meanwhile, a similarly large shark, thought to be a great white or tiger shark, continues to menace bathers at Warilla Beach in Wollongong’s southern suburbs.

That animal, dubbed by locals as Bruce, has forced the closure of beaches since the start of summer.

The stretch of coast just north of Newcastle is a well-known nursery for juvenile great white sharks, which feed on schools of baitfish along Stockton Bight.

But locals say it is the first time in memory a full-grown adult has ­remained in the same place, so ­highly visible, for so long.