Clouds are starting to build over Australia's eastern states, with rain set to soak parts of Queensland, NSW and Victoria on Wednesday and Thursday.

A low pressure trough passing over Australia from west to east will interact with moisture-laden air to cause this mid-week soaking in the nation's east.

Showers and a few thunderstorms will develop over western NSW, southwest Queensland and central and northern Victoria on Wednesday. Most areas will only see a few millimetres of rain at most on Wednesday, although some places could collect more than 10mm, especially beneath thunderstorms.

Image: Forecast accumulated rain on Wednesday, June 2, according to the ECMWF-HRES model.

The wet and stormy weather will spread further east on Thursday, with showers and thunderstorms affecting parts of central and southeast Queensland and central and eastern NSW. A few showers will continue in northeast Victoria, mainly in the morning.

Image: Forecast accumulated rain on Thursday, June 3, according to the ECMWF-HRES model.

Thursday's rain should be a bit heavier and more widespread than Wednesday, with a broad area from central NSW up to southern Queensland likely to see falls of 10-20mm and isolated totals over 30mm.

The trough will clear off the east coast on Friday, allowing drier weather to return to most of eastern Australia for the rest of the week.