A man has been shot dead by police after reportedly breaking into a home on the New South Wales mid-north coast armed with a chainsaw and a knife and stabbing a woman.

NSW police said officers from the Manning Great Lakes police district were called to a property in Tuncurry just before 6.40am on Friday following reports of a home invasion.

On their way to the location the officers were told a woman had been stabbed by the man, who left the location in a white 4WD, police said.

Police said the officers found a 28-year-old woman with serious wounds at the house and that she was treated by paramedics before being flown to the John Hunter hospital in a serious but stable condition.

The officers pursued the 4WD, which drove through a sports ground before reportedly crashing on the Forster Bridge a short time later, police said.

Police said the officers went to the bridge where they found the crashed 4WD and were told the man had carjacked another vehicle.

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According to police, the man rammed a police vehicle with the other vehicle, and one officer sustained minor injuries.

Police said they pursued the man again, with the man driving on to a property and entering a home, still armed with a knife, before attempting to steal another vehicle.

Police said the man, still armed, came out of the house moments later and confronted the officers who were there.

They said they then deployed a Taser in an attempt to detain the man but he was able to run to a neighbouring property.

A Taser was then deployed “multiple times” before the armed man ran towards an officer who then shot him.

The officers treated the man but he died at the scene.

The man was yet to be formally identified but police said they believed he was aged 41.

Police have begun a critical incident investigation, which occurs when an incident involving a NSW police officer results in the death or serious injury of a person.

Police said a critical incident team from the state crime command’s homicide squad would lead the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The probe will be reviewed by the police’s professional standards command with oversight by the force’s watchdog, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.