A teenage surfer has survived a shark bite to the hip with just a few stitches after an attack at Ballina, on the New South Wales North Coast.
Cooper Allen, 17, was bitten by a 3.5m great white shark in the shallows of Lighthouse Beach just before 9am.
Fellow surfer and friend Jae Waters, 14, said he saw a “black shape” behind his friend moments before the attack.
“I thought it bit his leg… it was just like thrashing around and trying to get him,” Jae told 9NEWS.
Cooper suffered a single bite wound to his hip and a nurse who was at the beach treated him until paramedics arrived.
He was taken to Lismore Base Hospital and remains in a stable condition.
A hospital spokeswoman said Cooper will only need a few stitches.
Paramedics said Cooper was conscious and cracking jokes as he was being treated.
“He’s all good. He’ll be fine,” Cooper’s father told 9NEWS.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries said the shark was later spotted off-shore and ushered away from the beach by lifeguards.
Lifesavers had launched their first patrol of the 2016/2017 season before the attack and were able to respond "within moments of being alerted", Surf Life Saving NSW (SLSNSW) said in a statement.
The teen had already been helped out of the water by fellow surfers, the statement advised, and lifesavers cleared other people from the water.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries sent shark biologists to the scene, and all Ballina Shire beaches will remain closed for 24 hours.