A manhunt is underway for a gunman after a vehicle linked with a shooting spree in New South Wales this morning was found dumped at a park.

 It is not clear whether the body and the shootings are linked.

NSW Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Scott Tanner said the body was found at a separate site to a shooting on Fernbank Creek Road.

"A male person found deceased on the side of the road in Fernbank Creek Road — at this stage we don't know whether it is linked to this incident," he said.

"We are making inquiries to determine what has happened there."

Schools in lockdown:

The NSW Department of Education has confirmed a number of schools in the region have been put into lockdown.

"On police advice, as a precaution the two campuses of Hastings Secondary College and seven primary schools locked their gates," a department spokesperson said.

"All students and staff are safe and classes are continuing as normal.

"Parents have been asked to collect their children at the end of the school day."

Acting Commissioner Tanner said police responded to reports of gunfire on the M1 Pacific Highway near Coolongolook at 1:40am this morning, where a driver escaped with minor injuries after being grazed by a bullet fired from a black Mercedes-Benz dual-cab ute.

A police car was later fired upon further north on the highway at Fernbank Creek Road, Acting Assistant Commissioner Tanner said.

He said the Mercedes, which was found abandoned at Wayne Richards Oval in Port Macquarie, could have contained up to four suspects.

Four other crime scenes have been established at Kundabung, Telegraph Point Fernbank Creek Road in Port Macquarie and Coopernook.

Police are also working to establish whether there was any motive behind the incidents.

"It certainly suggests the information we have at the moment they were random incidents, we can't find any links at this stage between the victims or any potential POIs (persons of interest)   

Previously, one of two southbound lanes of the Pacific Highway at Wharf Road, Kundabung, south of Kempsey, were closed as part of the police operation.

Those lanes have now reopened.

Sources | NSW Police & ABC