An Aussie Outback town has endured the world's hottest day, with even the chooks needing some air-conditioning relief.
To show how sweltering it was in Marree, about 660km north of Adelaide, a local resident posted a photo on Facebook on Thursday with a handheld thermometer showing a temperature of 54 degrees Celsius.
“Well, if 36 is a heat wave, what is this?,” he captioned the image.
Lyall Oldfield, owner of the Marree Roadhouse and Caravan Park, told Ny Breaking Australia “it's been a hot few days in the city.”
“I actually went to do some work in the park and the sweltering wind almost blew me off the forklift,” Mr Oldfield said.
The outback town of Marree was sweltering on the world's hottest day on Wednesday, with temperatures reaching 54 degrees (pictured)
Large parts of Australia, especially New South Wales, will be sweltering due to a heatwave (photo, national heatwave forecast)
“It's getting sweltering in here and I've got a hundred chooks running around in a half-acre block, so I've been running an air conditioner to keep them cool.”
The scorching heat has forced his staff to start and finish work earlier, but Mr Oldfield said locals have been hardened to the hot conditions.
“You just get used to it…it hasn't gotten any warmer or cooler. It is still very warm,” he said.
Marree was one of fifteen rural towns in Australia to record some of the highest temperatures in the world.
Sydney could see its hottest day in almost four years on Saturday, with a forecast temperature of 42 degrees Celsius
Global temperature website El Dorado Weather recorded 10 cities across the country where temperatures exceeded 45 degrees Celsius.
Olympic Dam Airport, also in South Australia, recorded the second highest temperature at 46.1 degrees Celsius, followed by Marble Bar in northern Western Australia, which reached 45.7 degrees Celsius.
The weather bureau says high temperatures will continue until late next week, with heatwave warnings in most of Australia, excluding Tasmania.
People are urged to stay indoors during the hottest part of the day and drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.