Loud cheers went up among the crowd as the moon made brief appearances between heavy, grey clouds before disappearing.
"It's really nice," Mr Aidan Millar-Powell told AFP of the festive community atmosphere at the beach. "People don't usually come together like this in Sydney for a natural phenomenon."
Tourists, office workers and couples crowded the Hong Kong waterfront as the supersized moon rose over the skyscrapers of the financial hub, while in the Chinese capital Beijing the moon climbed spectacularly over the city's skyline.
The supermoon was visible across much of India although residents of New Delhi, the world's most polluted capital, struggled to see it clearly through the toxic smog that has been shrouding the city in recent weeks.
In Singapore, a few events to view the supermoon were organised across the island. Many turned up hoping to capture photos of the rare occurrence but ended up with nothing as rain and cloudy skies hindered its visibility.
In Thailand, astrologers were variously predicting the supermoon would bring disaster or great fortune.
The supermoon means a stronger high tide, something that gets surfers giddy with excitement, not only at the prospect of riding bigger waves, but doing so at night.
Astronomers say it can be hard to notice that the moon appears brighter than usual. Once it is high in the sky, it can also be hard to tell it is larger.
