Canberrans shivered through a low of almost minus 5 degrees, the coldest temperature recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology throughout the country since midnight.

The bureau's Sean Carson said the nation's capital was the coldest location for most of the morning, dropping to minus 4.7 around 5am.

"Certainly, it was the coldest place anywhere where we have instrumentation across the country. We had the coldest overnight low in Australia," he said.

"Here in Canberra we just had the right mix of ingredients; we had light winds and clear skies. There were winds to our west and north which kept the temperature up and cold to the south. Canberra was between the two, allowing the cold to sink to the surface."

Canberrans heading to work or school were still facing sub-zero temperatures as of 8am with a low of minus 0.8 degrees.

Mr Carson said Canberra was up to 5 degrees colder than surrounding NSW, including the mountains.

The top of Thredbo recorded a low of minus 4.1 at 1am, although the apparent temperature was minus 16.

Across the region, Cooma dropped to a low of minus 0.2, Braidwood to 0.7 and to Goulburn 0.9.

The capital's chilly start to the day kept morning frost at bay due to a lack of moisture.

"Frost in terms of the white stuff on the ground, you need moisture but it's quite dry here," Mr Carson said.

"When you look on the ground there's very little frost apparent to the eye because it's so dry."

Despite the chilling temperatures Thursday morning, Mr Carson said the only extra snow over the mountains would be man-made.

"I can't see any more natural snow up there for some time now," Mr Carson said.

"The snow will gradually melt over the next week or two."

Canberrans will get a small reprieve from Friday with forecast minimums between minus 3 and 1 degrees and tops of 18 degrees over the next few days.

"Autumn is proving to be it's changeable best," Mr Carson said.

"There's some beautiful weather coming our way."