Officers raided a gathering of about 40 Hunter car "enthusiasts" who met on a secluded National Parks road in Stockrington Conservation Area on Saturday afternoon to do burnouts.

The police handed out 19 $1000 fines for breaching a coronavirus public health order and $300 fines for entering a closed national park.

About 20 other people at the rally escaped into the bush, but Acting Senior Sergeant Matt Rees said police had "fairly clear" in-car video of their number plates.

Police found a nine-year-old child and two 18-month-old babies at the burnout rally. The adults present were aged from 18 to 36.

"Why you would think it was a good idea to meet and conduct burnouts, anyway, has got me beat," Senior Sergeant Rees said.

"But in the current climate ... clearly, meeting to do burnouts and street racing is not essential travel.

"Members of the public, there's plenty of them out there keen to tell us when this sort of thing's happening, especially now.

"If you're going to meet with 40 cars to do burnouts, we're going to know about it."

Other weekend incidents which attracted virus-related fines included a 47-year-old woman who was found wandering Hunter Street on Saturday night and reportedly mooning the light rail.

She twice spat at a female paramedic while being loaded onto a gurney and will receive a $5000 fine under new anti-spitting laws.

A 24-year-old received a $1000 fine on Friday night after being found inside a relative's Toronto house drinking in a room with his brother.

A 34-year-old from Sydney was fined after reports a group of about 30 anglers at Eraring were not observing social distancing rules.

The man refused to stop fishing and return home was fined $1000 in line with laws governing non-essential travel.

A 40-year-old woman was fined $1000 after being found acting suspiciously in Hugh Street, Merewether, on Friday night, and a 24-year-old man was fined in Brown Road, Broadmeadow, after failing to provide a lawful reason for travelling from Nelson Bay.

Assistant Police Commissioner Karen Webb labelled Saturday's Stockrington rally "astounding".

Senior Sergeant Rees said police had broken up a similar gathering at Stockrington on Australia Day.

"Someone will get hurt out there one day, especially with kids watching," he said.

Some of the cars at Stockrington on Saturday were on trailers and "clearly only there for one reason".

Ten to 15 patrol cars and 30 police from Port Stephens, Raymond Terrace, Maitland, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie were at the scene.

In a separate incident, a 62-year-old man was fined $5000 under the Public Health Act and charged with assaulting police after allegedly spitting on a female officer at Metford on Friday.

"Spitting's just a filthy, filthy act at the best of times," Senior Sergeant Rees said.

"The government's backed us with this new legislation in relation to on-the-spot fines. We're like everyone. We're worried about it. We're worried about bringing it home to our families, but we're the front line. We have to deal with it."

He said police were taking a "realistic" attitude to enforcing rules restricting people's movement.

"We're certainly warning people. We want to educate people. We don't want to come in with the hard hand. Last night [at Stockrington] a completely different story."

Senior Sergeant Rees said most people in the Hunter appeared to be following the rules and there were "hardly any cars on the road".

The Hunter New England Health district has 270 coronavirus cases after one positive test in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday. NSW has 2854 after seven new positives, a figure NSW Health put down to a 75 per cent fall in testing on Saturday.

The state's death toll rose to 24 after an 82-year-old man died in a Sydney hospital. He caught the virus from someone in his household.