Relief is slowly coming for some tanned Australians after several states sweated through one of the hottest December days in years.
Parts of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia exceeded 45C on Monday, while the Northern Territory will face severe to extreme heatwave conditions for much of the next three days.
Extreme fire danger warnings remain in force, with high bushfire risks expected across southeastern Australia.
The Lofty Ranges in eastern South Australia and most of western and central Victoria, including Melbourne, are under extreme fire risk warnings.
“These hot, dry and windy conditions are likely to bring extreme fire risks,” Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said.
“This means that if fires break out in this weather, they will likely be out of control and out of control.”
Walpeup, in north-west Victoria, was the hottest place in the state on Monday at 47.1C, while temperatures ranged from the low to mid-40s in the west and south of New South Wales.
Alice Springs reached 41.9C just before 3pm, before the mercury dropped to 15C in just over 90 minutes.
Melbourne failed to reach the predicted maximum of 41°C, with the temperature reaching 39.4°C.
A cool change is expected to hit the Victorian capital later Monday evening after an already dramatic drop in temperatures in Geelong.
Total fire bans have been declared across most of Victoria, with incident management teams and firefighting aircraft on standby in critical regional areas.
An emergency warning was issued on Monday evening for an out-of-control bushfire near Creswick, north of Ballarat.
Residents in the alert area were advised that the safest option was to leave immediately before conditions became too dangerous.
Firefighters also responded to fires in western and eastern Victoria, as well as a grass fire in Melbourne.
While the mercury in Sydney reached 29°C, a maximum temperature of 45.6°C was recorded in Wilcannia, in central-north-west New South Wales.
What to expect in the coming days
A high fire danger warning will remain in force across much of central New South Wales on Tuesday.
Queensland, meanwhile, faces the risk of flash flooding with wet weather forecast from Yeppoon on the central coast to Brisbane.
The Bureau warned residents in the southeast of the state to prepare for heavy falls in the coming days.
“Over the next three to four days there could be widespread falls of 50 to 100mm and isolated falls of up to 250mm,” Narramore said.
A cool front reached Adelaide and western Victoria by 2pm on Monday, but heat will persist for the rest of the week in Queensland and the NT.
