Magnitude 4.0 earthquake strikes off the coast of Western Australia

A magnitude 4.0 earthquake has been recorded off the coast of Western Australia .

The quake was detected 260km from Albany on the southern coast of WA at a depth of 10km at 10.45am local time on Thursday.

It comes two days after thousands of residents were left without power after a magnitude 4.1 earthquake rocked regional NSW .

The quake was recorded 7km from Denman in the Upper Hunter Region, 250km north of Sydney , at a depth of 10km shortly before 12.15pm on Tuesday.

Over 300 people reported feeling the earthquake in the Hunter Valley, Central Coast, Scone and Penrith in western Sydney , according to Geoscience Australia.

Experts warned the NSW quake was part of a 'swarm sequence' that would see more seismic activity in the area over the coming months.

Residents in the NSW mining town of Muswellbrook were told to expect 'hundreds to thousands' of aftershocks in the wake of four quakes in three months.

'In earthquake swarms, you have a series of the earthquakes with similar size magnitudes — it's not like an aftershock sequence,' senior seismologist Dr Hadi Ghasemi from GeoScience Australia told the ABC.

'In this region, since the magnitude-4.7 in August, we've recorded over 50 earthquakes, four of them with magnitudes larger than 4, including the recent one.'

Dr Ghasemi warned residents of the possibility of further tremors being felt.

'All of the previous magnitude-4 ones in this region, they were followed by smaller aftershocks,' he said.

'But then again, with the swarm activity this kind of activity may continue for months or even years to come.'

More to come.