A great white shark has been spotted stalking unaware surfers in a chilling video at a popular beach.

The video, which was captured by a hovering drone, showed the 2.3metre (7.5ft) shark lurking beneath the waves at popular Tuncurry Beach in Forster, New South Wales, on June 9.

The drone, maneuvered by The Rogue Droner, hovers just metres away from the water, and follows the shark as it moves closer to the surfers.

The great white is seen comes within striking distance of the five surfers in the water as they wait for a wave – completely unaware of the lurking shark.

There appeared to be at least five surfers in the water at the time.

The videographer who shot the footage made several attempts to alert the surfers to the presence of the huge shark – but those in the water didn’t notice. 

Immediately after the footage, shark detection Twitter account SharkSmart posted a 2.3m great white sighting at the beach.

The update also urged swimmers and surfers to stay out of the water.

The drone footage comes after several sightings of sharks were captured in the surrounding areas of Forster using drones in the last year.

The dark, lurking animal is seen swimming up to the surfers as they wait, legs dangling into the depths below, for a wave – completely unaware of the lurking shark.

It comes after there’s been a high amount of shark activity around the entrance to the Forster, Tuncurry harbour (pictured the popular tourist beach Tuncurry Beach in Forster, NSW)

Another drone operator, Adam Fitzroy captured a large great white swimming along the usually-populated Nine Mile Beach in Tuncurry on June 20.

Although there were no swimmers in the water, Mr Fitzroy said the fish came close to shore as it preyed on mullet, Gloucester Advocate reports.

Mr Fitzroy said there was lots of shark activity around the entrance to the Forster-Tuncurry harbour all year.   

On June 21, he spotted seven large sharks in the water in the morning alone.