Destructive wind gusts are hammering remote communities in the Top End, with tropical cyclone Fina strengthening as it nears major population centres.

Fina passed over the Cobourg Peninsula overnight and into the Van Diemen Gulf on Saturday, moving slowly to track just north of the Northern Territory capital, Darwin.

Earlier in the morning, the Bureau of Meteorology said the system had been upgraded to category three.

A cyclone warning zone was in place for Darwin, the Daly River Mouth to Cape Don, including the Tiwi Islands, Dundee Beach, Milikapiti, Pirlangimpi and Wurrumiyanga.

At 10.30am Darwin time, Fina had sustained winds near the centre of 130km/h with wind gusts of up to 185km/h. It was tracking 85km northeast of Darwin.

At the third tier of severity, cyclones can bring wind

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