The man was pulled from the water near the Maritime Museum after he was seen face down in the water.

"I saw him in the water so I called the police," a friend and colleague of the man said at the scene.

Police were called to the Pyrmont Bay ferry wharf on Murray Street just before 7pm.

Passers-by, including two doctors, and ambulance crews performed CPR on the man after he was pulled from the water but their efforts were unsuccessful.

A colleague who asked not to be named said the man worked in Pyrmont and had been in the office until the afternoon.