Police have released CCTV footage as they hunt for a man who allegedly repeatedly punched a woman in Darlinghurst.

Police were told a white Volkswagen was stopped at the intersection of Nimrod and Caldwell streets when the driver got out of the car and began punching a female sitting in the back.

A second woman, sitting in the front, was heard yelling at the man to stop.

A passerby attempted to intervene and was also assaulted.

The driver was tackled into a fence before he returned to the car and drove off with the women still inside.

The Volkswagon, with the registration LK36CC, was revealed to have been stolen.