The area around Canberra is the greatest danger zone today. It's currently 42-43 there with reports of gusty wind. That's a deadly unstoppable combination.

There was a lot of talk about the Indian Ocean dipole being the cause for the extreme conditions but that's been back to neutral now for over a month yet still we're getting searing heat. As a kid growing up in Victoria you might get a couple of days per year when the mercury nudged 40 - mid-40's were unheard of - but now they're relatively common