SYDNEY: A Malaysian consular employee was stabbed to death in a "ferocious attack" outside his Sydney home in a suspected road rage incident, officials said Monday.

The 43-year-old man, who worked as a driver for the Malaysian consul general, was beaten and stabbed in inner-city Leichhardt by two men late on Sunday despite an attempted intervention by a female passer-by.

"It was a ferocious attack, there's no doubt about that," Detective Inspector Shane Woolbank said.

Authorities said they were examining whether the attack stemmed from a road rage incident moments earlier.

"Police are trying to determine whether the victim's car was involved in a traffic incident with a dark-coloured sedan," police said in a statement.

Malaysian consul general Mohd Nasir Abu Hassan said the victim, a Malaysian who had recently become an Australian citizen, had worked as a driver for the consulate for three years.

"This is a very stressful time for all of us at the consulate," he told reporters. "We got on very well with him and we were shocked that we heard this tragic news."