The updated Bureau of Meteorology forecast says Sunday will start out cloudy with areas of smoke haze in the east.

"Very high (near 100%) chance of rain, most likely during this afternoon and evening," the forecasts states.

"The chance of a thunderstorm."

The forecast is for between 20mm-40mm of much-needed rain on Sunday, and only a slight chance of further falls on Monday and Tuesday.

Bathurst is in for top temperature of 24 degrees Celsius on Sunday.

ALSO MAKING NEWS:

EARLIER: THE Bathurst region is still holding out hope for a good drenching across the weekend.

While any significant rain now appears unlikely for Saturday, the Bureau of Meteorology is still forecasting good falls for Sunday.

The bureau says there is a 90 per cent chance of between 10mm and 20mm of rain on Sunday, and the chance of showers again on Monday before a return to sunny conditions for the rest of the week.

At this stage, though, Bathurst will take whatever rain it can get.

The official weather station at Bathurst Airport recorded just 23.6mm of rain for all of October, boosted by 16.2mm in a single day on October 12.

That was well down on the long-term October average of 51.7mm and continued a worrying run in recent months.

Since July 1, Bathurst has received just 90mm compared to the long-term four-month average of 178mm.

The low four-month total is also the third worst tally for the region since the year 2000, finishing ahead of only 2002 (52mm) and 2006 (77mm).