[2805] ERROR Failed to compile with 1 errors - missing clinet.js

I'm not sure if this is a better place to raise this (i already contributed to issue #48 in create-nuxt-app, but the issue may well be with nuxt core?

I'm getting the following error no matter whether I use create-nuxt-app, vue init nuxt-community/starter-template or follow the start from scratch instructions:

ERROR  Failed to compile with 1 errors                                                                                                                                                                                              13:00:59

This dependency was not found:

* E:\simonl\Documents\_dev\!learning\nuxt003\.nuxt\client.js in multi webpack-hot-middleware/client?name=client&reload=true&timeout=30000&path=/__webpack_hmr ./.nuxt/client.js

To install it, you can run: npm install --save E:\simonl\Documents\_dev\!learning\nuxt003\.nuxt\client.js

OPEN  http://localhost:3000

I have:

• vue v2.9.3
• node v8.8.1
• npm v5.6.0

My package.json

{
  "name": "nuxt003",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Nuxt.js project",
  "author": "Simon Lincoln <simonl@enlight.co.uk>",
  "private": true,
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "nuxt",
    "build": "nuxt build",
    "start": "nuxt start",
    "generate": "nuxt generate",
    "lint": "eslint --ext .js,.vue --ignore-path .gitignore .",
    "precommit": "npm run lint"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "nuxt": "^1.0.0"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "babel-eslint": "^8.2.1",
    "eslint": "^4.15.0",
    "eslint-friendly-formatter": "^3.0.0",
    "eslint-loader": "^1.7.1",
    "eslint-plugin-vue": "^4.0.0"
  }
}

What have I missed?