Tropical cyclone Ellie crossed the Northern Territory coastline on Thursday night at the mouth of the Daly River as a category one cyclone before hitting Peppimenarti, the Bureau of Meteorology has said.

The BOM said it crossed onto land about 11pm and had wind strength near the centre of 75km/h with gusts up to 100km/h. A 6.30am warning had the cyclone 85km/h southeast of Wadeye.

“During this morning tropical cyclone Ellie is expected to track southwards across the southern Daly district inland from the coast and weaken below cyclone strength by midday,” the BOM warning said.

“Over the weekend ex-tropical cyclone Ellie will continue to track southwards near the WA/NT border.”

The BOM warning said there was heavy rain over the Daly district which was likely to increase across the Gregory and adjacent east Kimberley districts throughout the day, and then extend further south over the weekend.

It said gales with gusts up to 110km/h were occurring between Dundee Beach south to Wadeye and may extend inland to Daly River (Nauiyu) and Peppimenarti during the morning.

And gales with gusts up to 90km/h may also develop south of Wadeye to the NT/WA border during the morning.