Lifeline is anticipating a spike in calls for mental health support as JobKeeper subsidies and banking foreclosure supports are wound back, while an expert warns young Australians are an "obvious suicide risk" in a recession.

The Lifeline prediction comes on the back of a record three months in which it received a call every 30 seconds. It recorded 90,000 calls a month in each of March, April and May – the most in its 57-year history – as Australians grappled with the distress of bushfires, drought, floods and COVID-19.