Soaring heat causes chaos across Australia

Tennis fans at the Australian Open were able to cool down at the Melbourne venue's water-mist walkway. Photo / AP

Hot weather that broke records across parts of Australia this week left more than 200,000 properties without power in Victoria yesterday because of load shedding due to the heat.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) ordered load shedding - which occurs when demand is too great - across the grid to deal with the increased demand.

After what was thought to be a record overnight high, Melbourne hit 42.8C yesterday, making it the hottest day since January 17, 2014, when it hit 43.9C. The city's hottest day on record is February 7, 2009, which reached 46.4C.

The temperature in the city was set to fall to an overnight low of 20C, after plummeting from 42.6C to 30.8C in seven minutes yesterday afternoon.

Adelaide's mercury reached a record high of 46.2C on Thursday, toppling a heat record from 1939. The Bureau of Meteorology reported that West Terrace recorded the highest temperature in 80 years. Adelaide-based Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Hilary Wilson said "quite a number of records" could be broken and more records were expected to fall yesterday.

In the north of the state, at Mildura, temperatures were expected to peak at 47C yesterday. It was 43C shortly after 3pm.

Bairnsdale and Sale in the east were expected to hit 45C and break their heat records.

Meanwhile, a number of major fire fronts had emergency services in Tasmania stretched to the limit. ABC reported that residents in several towns were told to flee as bushfires, stoked by dry conditions and wind, sweep across the island.

The Tasmania Fire Service was closely monitoring 63 active fires, with three - Tahune in the south-east, Western Hills on the west coast and the Central Plateau - the main areas of concern.