Boxing Day's forecast sweltering heat is off to an early start with the mercury speeding past 20C in most Australian capitals early in the day.
A heatwave expected to last until Wednesday across most of southern Australia has seen Canberra reach 29C before midday with a forecast max of 33C on Monday.
Sydney and Melbourne reached 25C and 23C before midday, Adelaide is sweating through 33C heat at 11am local time and Perthites are waking up to 23C in the early hours.
