Stars are born with protostellar discs that during the initial stages of their formation are relatively massive, asymmetric and they are being fed with material infalling from their parent clouds. Recent ALMA observations of discs around young stars revealed the presence of gaps and spiral arms indicative of planet formation. These observations raise the exciting possibility that planets may form much faster than it has been previously thought. Therefore, their formation may be sensitive to the early properties of discs while they are still forming in collapsing molecular clouds. I will present radiative hydrodynamic simulations of self-gravitating discs forming in collapsing clouds and discuss their observational signatures. I will also discuss how giant planets that form in early phase discs evolve. Can such planets avoid fast inward migration and fast mass growth to survive until after the disc has dispersed?