February-March floods that hit Queensland and NSW produced 230,000 claims, of which 36% are now finalised with $2 billion paid out.

The average claim is $22,000, The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says, with personal claims averaging $17,000 and commercial claims $71,000, and claims are evenly split between the two states by both number and value.

ICA CEO Andrew Hall says delays are being experienced because of a shortage of experts needed to make assessments and “significant constraints” on builders and materials.

“The scale and impact of the increasing likelihood of further events make it imperative that the rebuild and reconstruction from this flood significantly improves the resilience of these communities to future extreme weather events,” he said.

Insured losses from the event, Australia’s costliest flood, have climbed to $5.134 billion to be the nation's second costliest natural catastrophe.

It is only passed by Sydney’s 1999 hailstorm ($5.57 billion) after costs overtook 1974’s Cyclone Tracy ($5.04 billion).

The ICA is calling for increased government investment in effective long-term mitigation solutions for communities at risk of flood and other extreme weather events.