Watch the moment a ute becomes stuck in king tides off Rainbow Beach, Queensland

Brisbane resident Bruce Howe filmed the ute bobbing in the cyclone-triggered king tides as bystanders scaled the rocks to assist the driver and passenger.

It's understood the Ford Ranger was being driven off-road with a jet ski in tow when it was suddenly overcome by the king tides.

The vehicle became stuck at around 5pm on Tuesday. Several preliminary attempts to dislodge the vehicle failed, and the efforts were resumed hours later as the tide receded.

Waves of up to 10 metres have been recorded in Byron Bay as the ex-Tropical Cyclone Seth continues to pass over the east coast.

George Shales from NSW Surf Life Saving said on Tuesday that volunteers had conducted more than 300 rescues since the new year started.

With several deaths have already been recorded for 2022, Mr Shales reminded the nation that many of the incidents attended by surf life savers are "entirely preventable".

In the past week, police divers have retrieved a 15-year-old boy's body from the Shoalhaven River, and the bodies of two elderly people from Port Stephens.

Meanwhile, fishers returned to fishing Windang Island near Wollongong, south of Sydney, less than 24 hours after a 21-year-old man died when he was washed off the rocks at the very same spot.

"Our divers have been extremely busy in the last week," Superintendent Murray Reynolds, Marine Area Command.

"The majority of these deaths, we investigate and we find they were entirely preventable."