We present a pilot search for variable and transient sources at 1.4 GHz with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder ( ASKAP ) .
The search was performed in a 30 deg ^ { 2 } area centred on the NGC 7232 galaxy group over 8 epochs and observed with a near-daily cadence .
The search yielded nine potential variable sources , rejecting the null hypothesis that the flux densities of these sources do not change with 99.9 % confidence .
These nine sources displayed flux density variations with modulation indices m \geq 0.1 above our flux density limit of \sim 1.5 mJy .
They are identified to be compact AGN/quasars or galaxies hosting an AGN , whose variability is consistent with refractive interstellar scintillation .
We also detect a highly variable source with modulation index m > 0.5 over a time interval of a decade between the Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey ( SUMSS ) and our latest ASKAP observations .
We find the source to be consistent with the properties of long-term variability of a quasar .
No transients were detected on timescales of days and we place an upper limit \rho _ { t } < 0.01 deg ^ { -2 } with 95 \% confidence for non-detections on near-daily timescales .
The future VAST-Wide survey with 36-ASKAP dishes will probe the transient phase space with similar cadence to our pilot survey , but better sensitivity , and will detect and monitor rarer brighter events .