More than 60,000 homes and businesses were left without power and an international sailing tournament had to be cancelled after thunderstorms swept Sydney.

SailGP says a full assessment of the damage has been launched after wild weather swept the city on Saturday evening, battering its Barangaroo event.

A Canadian F50 catamaran was picked up and thrown against a structure at the water’s edge as winds close to 50km/h buffeted the nine-boat fleet.

Fire and Rescue NSW said its officers attended the incident, helping with an evacuation of the site as paramedics tended to numerous people with minor injuries.  

Wind gusts of more than 100km/h were recorded at Sydney airport, while rugby league’s World Club Challenge between NRL side Penrith and visiting English team St Helens was briefly interrupted due to lightning strikes in the city’s outer west.

A Qantas flight from Santiago to Sydney had to be diverted to Newcastle with passengers spending the night at the airport.

“Storms in Sydney last night impacted a number of airlines and required some domestic and international flights to divert to other airports – this included our flight from Santiago to Sydney which diverted to Newcastle,” a Qantas spokesperson said.

“We understand that this would have been a frustrating experience for our customers and an uncomfortable night, and we thank them for their patience and understanding of the impact the storms had on flights into Sydney.”

NSW SES received almost 800 calls for assistance to 5am on Sunday, almost 700 of them in Sydney, as storms erupted across Greater Sydney, the Illawarra region and the state’s central Tablelands.

Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai, Hawkesbury, Auburn and Sutherland were the Sydney suburbs most in need of help, it said.

Major energy suppliers Ausgrid and Endeavour reported more than 60,000 outages in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Illawarra and Central Coast, with crews working through the night to restore power.

Endeavour said on Sunday morning it had managed to get lights and appliances on again for more than 50,000 customers, with around 4000 customers still without supply. 

The storm caused more than 300 electrical hazards due to lightning and damaging winds bringing trees and branches down over powerlines across north-west Sydney, the Hawkesbury and Macarthur regions.  

Fallen trees on tracks also meant delays across Sydney’s rail network on Saturday evening although services resumed around 10.30pm.

By Farid Farid and Callum Godde in Sydney