Just a month after celebrating his 110th birthday, Australia’s oldest man has died peacefully on the NSW South Coast.

Frank Mawer was born on August 15, 1912, and was living with his son Philip at Central Tilba when he went for his afternoon nap on Saturday and didn’t wake up.

Another son, Barry, said his father’s health went downhill after contracting COVID-19 several weeks ago.

“He lived life to the full even in recent months,” Barry said in a statement on Tuesday.

“He insisted on sitting up for meals, he did his exercises every day and had plenty of visitors.”

Former NSW premier and now HammondCare chief executive Mike Baird says Mr Mawer lived an “extraordinary life”.

Until November Mr Mawer lived independently in his own apartment in Sydney, supported by HammondCare staff, and only moved to the South Coast to be with his son and his partner after a fall.

“Frank was the most inspiring individual, a gracious man and a man of faith,” Mr Baird said.

Mr Mawer became the nation’s oldest man in July after the death of Queensland’s Dexter Kruger.

In 2020 Mr Mawer offered advice for living to a healthy old age: no smoking, no drinking and no gambling.

“These are three things you can choose. The way you live makes a difference,” he said.

However, Mr Mawer confessed to one sweet vice – Portuguese tarts.

Mr Mawer married Elizabeth in 1939 and together they raised six children. Elizabeth died 11 years ago, aged 92.

“It was a long marriage to a lovely girl,” Mr Mawer said.