Jones, a long-time backer of Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn, said that Ms Burn - who had also applied for the job - was "the outstandingly credentialled candidate" with a CV that "no one in the country could match".

He told Fairfax Media that state cabinet had "taken the line of least resistance" and "marginalised Burn, and put up some bloke who has never been a deputy commissioner. How the hell does someone ... from the Department of Premier tell us that such a person, someone who hasn't been a deputy commissioner, should be commissioner? It doesn't pass the smell test."

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced on Thursday morning that Mr Fuller - who until now has ranked below Ms Burn as an assistant commissioner - would be the new head of the NSW Police Force, ending the 10-year reign of Andrew Scipione.

Jones said he had long known Ms Burn through family connections, as her father had been his GP.

"I will declare an interest here. I have known this woman for ages because her father was my doctor. He is one of the great remarkable Australians, a fellow who graduated from university in engineering, hated it and became a doctor and then decided to take a law degree to help downtrodden patients."

But he said his support for Ms Burn was based on her record.

"She has a university gold medal for god's sake. She has won every award, the Commissioner's Commendation for Service, a NSW Police medal, Australian Telstra Businesswoman of the Year.

"I mean all this stuff, a graduate of the FBI National Executive Institute ... and she is the deputy.

"I don't know this bloke Fuller, I'm just simply saying you can only look at the scoreboard, and this woman [Ms Burn] has got the lot."

Jones added that Ms Burn had also run the counter-terrorism unit and "the biggest issue facing the world today is terrorism".

He said she'd been the victim of a "lobby" mounted against her "which, like most campaigns, is based on jealousy and it has succeeded ... I've got no idea where it has come from, but there has been a lobby against this woman, the only woman. Has she made mistakes? Sure. But nothing like the stuff what was chucked at her."

He said it was an irony that a female candidate had been passed over on the watch of a female Premier.

"She [Ms Berejiklian] wasn't prepared to put her face to the fire in defence of the outstanding candidate.

"You have got to give him [Mr Fuller] a go, he's got the job," Jones added, "but I think he's got the job ahead of him, he doesn't bring experience at the highest level."

The Premier's office is being contacted for a response.

A spokesman for Mr Fuller pointed to the new Commissioner's statement at a press conference on Thursday morning, quoting Mr Fuller as saying that "there's been too much of 'Are you Team A or are you Team B?' There is no team Fuller. The focus is on the community."

Ms Burn is not the only disappointed candidate. Fellow deputy Dave Hudson and several other assistant commissioners put their hats in the ring for the job, as did the highly respected former deputy commissioner Nick Kaldas and head of the Australian Border Force Roman Quaedvlieg, who was the only outside candidate shortlisted for interview.