Changes to bail laws, monitoring and the use of apprehended domestic violence orders are all being weighed by the state government following a spate of shocking attacks on women.
A 45-year-old man handed himself in to police on Thursday morning after a 39-year-old woman was stabbed in the neck, head and back early the previous afternoon outside a Sydney gym.
The attacker allegedly lay in wait for her to leave Crunch Fitness at Alexandria, in Sydney's inner south, before stabbing her with a kitchen knife and then fleeing as others intervened.
Police will investigate whether any orders were in place to protect the woman before the attack but detectives previously said the suspect had a history of domestic violence and had been in a brief relationship with the victim.
The woman was treated by paramedics before being taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition.
The man is yet to be charged over the stabbing.
Premier Chris Minns said a woman being attacked by a man she knew was not rare and NSW faced an "absolute emergency" in domestic violence offending.
"We do need a change that needs to be comprehensive, the scale of this problem is growing ... so we're examining everything," he said on Thursday.
Courts made more than 39,000 apprehended domestic violence orders in the last 12 months and the government was investigating how people subject to them were being monitored, Mr Minns said.
Electronic monitoring would be investigated, but the premier flagged challenges such as monitoring costs and police resourcing.
A witness said the woman was helped upstairs into the gym, where staff began first-aid. (Sam Lock/AAP PHOTOS)
A package of measures is being finalised to be considered by cabinet ahead of introduction to parliament in the next week, Mr Minns said.
The state government announced on Monday a $230 million package to address domestic violence through early prevention and education programs as well as support for women's refuges.
Police believe Wednesday's stabbing was a targeted attack, Detective Superintendent Rodney Hart said.
"We believe they had been in the past - earlier this year - in a very short domestic relationship," he said.
Police remained at the scene of the attack on Wednesday night. (Sam Lock/AAP PHOTOS)
Witnesses reported hearing the woman scream as she was walking towards her car.
"It was not a normal scream," one woman said.
"Because of the distance, I wasn't sure what he was trying to do to her ... it looked like he was attacking her or he was trying to rob her."
The witness believed the man was hiding in the carpark as she did not see him when she arrived.
Another witness saw the woman helped upstairs into the gym, where staff began first-aid.
"She ran all the way upstairs, she was bleeding from the neck, from her ears," he said.
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