Weather records have been broken across Western Australia as a severe heatwave batters much of the state's south.
The heat peaked before midday for many spots around metropolitan Perth, as an early sea breeze swept through the city.
Perth reached a maximum of 42.6 degrees Celsius at 11:04am, exceeding the forecast 41C, but not topping its all-time highest February maximum of 44.5C.
It was a different story in the city's inland eastern suburbs where residents experienced even hotter conditions.
Ellenbrook and Midland were forecast to hit 45C, while the Perth Hills suburb of Kalamunda was predicted to hit 44C and Armadale to reach 43C.
While the weather bureau does not collect historical data for those areas, because there aren't any automatic weather stations at those sites, the closest spots — Perth Airport and Pearce — both got to the mid 40s.
Perth Airport reached 44.6C at 11:43am, while the Pearce RAAF site clocked in a scorching 45.2C — just 0.5C off its February record of 45.7C in 1997, and only 0.8C away from its hottest day ever in January 1977.
Gooseberry Hill reached a top of 44.9C just minutes before midday.
Heatwave conditions in Western Australia on Wednesday drove electricity demand to a new record high of 4,070 megawatts (MW), up 24 MW from the previous record.
The ABC spoke to two men, Jordan and Kaden, who took the opportunity to climb Perth's popular hillside staircase Jacob's Ladder at the peak of the day.
“I like this temperature, it’s good for my training,” Jordan said.
“I’m aiming for about 20 (sets). Whether we get there or not, we’ll see."
He said he was well hydrated despite the heat.
The Australian Energy Market Operator confirmed heatwave conditions drove electricity demand to a new record high of 4,070 megawatts on Wednesday.
Scorcher in Geraldton
In WA's Mid West region, Geraldton Airport had its hottest day in 12 years for the second day in a row, reaching 46.5C on Thursday, making it the second highest temperature for the site since records began in 1941.
Its record is 47.3C.
Bickley, in the Perth Hills got to a high of 42.1C, beating its previous record of 42C.
Bridgetown in WA's South West also recorded its hottest day in 25 years, with a top of 42.6C.
Collie east has beaten its record maximum temperature of 41.3C, after reaching 42.4C on Thursday.
Duty forecaster Angeline Prasad said the heatwave is unlikely to ease until sometime on Saturday for much of WA.
She said it's not only daytime temperatures to be aware of, but night-time temperatures which are also above average for this time of year.
More heatwaves on cards
Ms Prasad said Perth usually got at least three days of temperatures above 40C from December to February — Thursday was the third this summer.
The city also typically experiences two severe heatwaves a calendar year — it has already had two in January.
"We tend to see 13 to 16 heatwaves throughout Perth in a calendar year and normally two out of these are severe and it's during the severe heatwave events that we see these very high temperatures across Perth," she said.
"We certainly did see a much earlier heatwave in November last year, and that is quite unusual.
"We'll continue to see hot, dry days over the next few weeks, so it is possible we'll continue to see more severe heatwave events."
The bureau is expecting the sea breeze to roll through earlier across Perth on Friday, helping to lower maximum temperatures, especially for the western suburbs.
The metropolitan area is forecast to reach 39C on Friday, before finally getting some reprieve from Saturday, with a top of 31C and a much sharper drop to 26C on Sunday, before 27C for Monday, with cooler nights as well by then.
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