Locals dive for swim and shade as heatwave keeps grip

States are roasting in an extended heatwave expected to persist into the weekend before easing. (Stephanie Gardiner/AAP PHOTOS)

For the past week, news reports on the heatwave cooking the continent have focused obsessively on which temperature records have fallen in what town.

But records are meaningless to the residents of Menindee, which sits on the banks of the Barka-Darling River in far west NSW.