Australia's east set for weekend drenching

Residents in eastern Australia should brace for some rain, from Cairns to just outside Canberra.

A drenching is on the way for drought-affected areas of Queensland and most of NSW on Saturday, with average falls of 30 to 60mm expected.

Areas outside Queensland's south-east corner on Friday experienced some moderate rainfall.

People living west and northwest of Brisbane are getting more falls on Saturday, with drought-declared regions around Gympie, Roma and Dalby set to receive the most rain.

Simon Allen, a senior meteorologist with the weather bureau, says a weekend of heavy rainfall would be unlikely to break the drought afflicting much of Queensland.

"It's unlikely to make up for the deficiencies over the past months and even longer," he told AAP.

"It's widespread rainfall across large parts of Queensland and most of NSW but you are likely to potentially get isolated heavier falls that's due to thunderstorms."

Inland areas of NSW, from Bourke to Cobar and Nyngan, are expected to cop falls of up to 50mm on Saturday, before rains of more than 100mm hit the state's south coast on Sunday.

Eastern Victoria is also forecast to weather a rainy Sunday.

Mr Allen said a rain band associated with a trough system was bringing the heavy rain.

"I would classify it as a north-west cloud band type event - it is rare in August but they can happen at any time of the year," he said.