If you did, you might be surprised at how little complaining there is from the winter warriors keeping the city running.

Peter Cox works at Roadmaster Transport, specialists in refrigerated food delivery.

An average day for the self-described jack of all trades involves going in and out of a coolroom 15-20 times, sometimes for more than an hour a visit.

A night shift - which he did full-time for a year - means working in the coolroom at zero to 2 degrees from 7pm to 8am. Time is also spent in the freezer, chilled at a stiff minus 23 degrees.

He chooses to wear little more than an office worker might.

''You have the option of wearing whatever you want: safety boots, work pants, and I just wear a jumper and a beanie - tracky dacks and jumper,'' he said.

A decade in transporting solely frozen food means he knows it can be worse.

''Before this job, my job was the freezer manager, 10-11 hours a day in the freezer at minus 23 - I could be in there constantly in shorts and T-shirt,'' he said.

As you would expect, the start of winter hardly fazes him.

''It's pretty much all the same - when it's really cold its sometimes warmer in the coolroom, it's actually like walking into a heater,'' he said.

Mr Cox said he still enjoyed the job, and took a gentle jab at those in more comfortable work environments who might be inclined to moan about the cold season.

''Harden up - they need to appreciate what they've got,'' he said.

Over at Canberra Airport, George Kerry fronts up in the cold early morning to allow another form of transport to run.

The Aerocare employee works on the tarmac, meeting and dispatching Virgin planes and loading and unloading baggage.

Despite regular subzero mornings on a shift starting at 4.45, or cold nights on the alternate shift ending at 11 o'clock, Mr Kerry works in shorts and a T-shirt.

He swats off co-workers' claims he's crazy.

''If they're getting cold they're not working hard enough,'' he said with a grin.

After 29 years with Ansett and a year with REX all on the check-in, Mr Kerry has never regretted his choice to spend the past decade on the tarmac.

''Best job ever,'' he said. ''You don't have to feed and water the bags, you can leave them there and they don't argue.''

The Queanbeyan resident - who also de-ices the planes when there's a frost - has had work rotations at most airports around the nation, and said his thoughts turned to warmer places in winter.

''You always swear blind that you'll never have another winter down here, why do you do it? When you see the weather forecasts and see minus 4 and 5 and look at Cairns and Darwin and they have a minimum of 20 or something, [you think] why?''

Up at the Mount Stromlo Water Treatment Plant, Jayantha Perera is part of the team ensuring Canberra has safe drinking water 24 hours a day, all year round.

Monitoring the quality of intake water, dosages of chemicals and filtering requires multiple field visits during each 12-hour shift, each taking at least 45 minutes.

The location and time of work make it one of the capital's toughest winter gigs.

''Stromlo plant is in the upper region and the wind chill is very bad, normally 10-15 degrees below normal temperature,'' he said.

''Winter is the worst - everyday travelling to and from the treatment plant, most of the winter times in the morning the road it's covered with frost.''Mr Perera said field visits could be rescheduled, but avoiding the cold and dark was impossible.

''We can delay our rounds about half an hour: sometimes we can avoid rain, sometimes we can't,'' he said.

''If you are going to stop a burst leak or something we will get wet, if we can remotely isolate we will.''

Mr Perera said he generally worked one-man shifts with most time in the control room, and after 19 years with ACTEW Water still enjoyed his role.

''There is a satisfaction that you make good quality water every time and satisfy the customer's needs,'' he said.

Matt Hotf is also a water industry operator for ACTEW Water, but works around the city completing maintenance on water, sewer and stormwater networks.

Arriving in Canberra from northern NSW about 10 years ago, Mr Hotf said winters were challenging.

''We're pretty much fully exposed, the only thing we have is the ute and the heater,'' he said.

''We are working with a lot of metal tools, so everything we touch is cold, and our hands are often in water.

''You definitely know you're alive.''

Most work is done in the daylight, but late nights during on-call shifts are common, with an average burst water main taking about four hours to fix.

Mr Hotf said the frigid weather also brought work.

''We're pretty constant most of the year but winter's always busier - the ground movement and the freezing cause problems,'' he said.

''I enjoy it, I like being outside. It does get cold though. Sometimes I think winter will never end.''

Canberra has average lows of 1 degree in June and August, and zero in July. While it is home to the coldest winters of the eight capital cities, Bureau of Meteorology figures show that the city has double the number of clear days of Hobart, and triple those of Melbourne.

And a small encouragement to those braving the elements during the next three months - the bureau forecasts a better than 70 per cent chance of minimum temperatures above the median this year.