According to WeatherZone, Hamish is now expected to maintain this southeast track over the next couple of days.

At 4pm Hamish was located off the Capricornia Coast, 255 kilometres east of Yeppoon and 245 kilometres north northeast of Bundaberg, moving southeast at 17 kilometres per hour.

In the 24 to 48 hour period the cyclone is expected to become slow moving and weaken slightly, but for the moment the storm is still a very dangerous Category 4 cyclone, meaning that wind gusts near its centre are as high as 250 kilometres per hour.

WeatherZone's Sam Terry said Lady Elliot Island was today hit by a 76km/h gust, the strongest in 10 months.

Heron Island felt wrath of the cyclone, picking up its strongest gust in three and a half years, a gust of 95km/h.

But rainfall totals have been relatively low over yesterday and today, meaning less chance of flooding.

However, it does look as though falls may increase over the Sunshine Coast.

A Cyclone Warning remains in force between Yeppoon and Hervey Bay, with a watch extending south to Tewantin.

A Severe Weather Warning is also current for the Central Coast and Whitsundays and northern Capricornia districts due to dangerous surf and abnormally high tides.

Bureau of Meteorology deputy regional director Bruce Gunn said Cyclone Hamish was expected to weaken to category three by 10pm tonight.

However a remnant of the menacing cyclone could cross the coast at Hervey Bay on Wednesday.

"It's a better scenario than what we had at the weekend…but we’re not out of the woods yet," Mr Gunn said.

Mr Gunn said winds in the upper atmosphere were pushing the cyclone east, while winds in the lower atmosphere were pushing the cell west.

"It's tearing itself apart."

The cyclone is expected to weaken further to a category two cell within 48 hours, but the outer reaches of the super storm cell could generate damaging winds and torrential rain over Lady Elliot Island and Heron Island and the Sandy Cape within the next 24 hours.