A new attempt will be made on Saturday to refloat the coal carrier Pasha Bulker after the replacement of towing cables and a sea anchor that broke under the strain of the salvage operation.
Salvage crews will wait until Saturday night's high tide around 8pm (AEST) to mount a second bid to free the ship, which ran aground off Nobbys Beach at Newcastle during a storm on June 8.
The first attempt to pull the Pasha Bulker back to sea began on Thursday night in heavy seas, high winds and sheeting rain.
It got off to an ominous start when one of the towlines attached to a tug snapped.
On Friday morning, just minutes after Ports Minister Joe Tripodi said the three tugs involved in the operation would begin their second attempt on Friday night, a cable to the lead salvage tug Pacific Responder also failed.
Within 30 minutes of that break, one of three sea anchors broke free, leaving two sea anchors and one tug to hold the bulkship as it was thrown about in the heavy surf.
Soon after, the salvage crew decided to abort Friday night's attempt and ordered the ship's ballast tanks be filled with water once more to stabilise it in the surf.
The ballast will be pumped out again before any attempt to refloat the ship.
The massive task is being undertaken by the Dutch marine salvage company, Svitzer Salvage.
Mr Tripodi on Friday morning remained upbeat about the prospects of the salvage operation, which involves pulling the bow of the beached ship around towards the open sea.
"Further progress overnight, including another one degree of movement, has taken total movement to nine degrees since yesterday (Thursday) evening's high tide," he said.
"The salvage team has advised it will concentrate on preparing the Pasha Bulker today ahead of the attempted refloat on Saturday."
Mr Tripodi said Saturday night's 1.9 metre high tide forecast for 8.13pm would provide optimal conditions to refloat the 40,000 tonne vessel.
A Newcastle Ports spokeswoman said that at some time on Friday, a cable was to be reattached to the tug boat Keera.
The spokeswoman said the Pacific Responder had recovered the broken sea anchor and taken it into Newcastle Harbour for inspection.
On Saturday morning the sea anchor would be set in place again and the Pacific Responder would then reattach its own line to the ship.
During attempts to pull the ship to sea, winches on board the Pasha Bulker will wind in the cables attached to the sea anchors, helping the tugs in their efforts.
On Friday three cables remained attached to the Pasha Bulker - one connecting it the tug Woona, and two running to sea anchors.
The salvage team is believed to be working in a window of favourable tides that will end on July 4.
Gale force winds are forecast for coastal areas around Newcastle on Saturday but authorities remain optimistic the operation will proceed as planned.
National Coordinator of the International Transport Workers Federation, Dean Summers, called on the federal government to introduce laws that would force ships using Australian ports to comply with Australian regulations.
He said he had no evidence linking the grounding of the Pasha Bulker with its trading status.
"But we want to ask if the deregulation of this vessel had anything to do with the grounding of it," Mr Summers said.
"Did the fact that it's an unregulated ship mean it was a contributing factor to this tragedy?"
Mr Summers said masters of many ships under flags of convenience were put under more commercial stress and pressures than they would be if they were skippering a nationally flagged ship.
He would not be drawn on the effectiveness of plans for the salvage attempt, but praised the salvage crews as some of the finest seamen in the world