Australia news live: Tropical Cyclone Narelle forecast to hit far north Queensland three hours earlier than expected; ASX plunges amid Iran war

00.56 EDT Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is picking up speed as it tracks to the Queensland coast Graham Readfearn Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle remains as a huge category 5 storm off the Queensland coast this afternoon and has picked up pace, now moving at about 28km/h. The latest track map of the storm , just released by the Bureau of Meteorology , has Narelle 410km east of the small town of Coen on the Cape York peninsular. Wind gusts are at an incredible 295km/h. The latest map also shows an earlier time for the storm to make landfall which is now estimated at 7am on Friday morning – three hours earlier than forecasts this morning. Earlier this morning, there were fears Narelle could cross the coast as a category 5 system, but the last two updates from the bureau (they are coming every four hours now) has a crossing as a category 4 very close to Coen. That still means an incredibly dangerous storm with wind gusts between 225km/h and 279km/h. According to the bureau, winds like that can cause significant roofing loss and structural damage” and can blow away caravans, cause dangerous airborne debris, cause extensive damage to vegetation and cause widespread power failures.