Canberran soaking up the sun over the weekend could be forgiven for feeling summer had begun early with coast temperatures about 14 degrees above average and territory temperatures about 8 degrees above average for this time of year.
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With a top of almost 28 degrees on Sunday - well above the average maximum of 19.5 - Canberra is in the midst of a heat spell not seen since 2007, Weatherzone meteorologist Tristan Meyers said.
He tipped the warmer temperatures to stick around to at least Wednesday, when a top of 23 was predicted after maximums of 30 and 31 on Monday and Tuesday.
Territorians who escaped to the coast enjoyed even hotter weather; Batemans Bay hit a top of 36.5 degrees on Sunday, almost three degrees warmer than expected.
Mr Meyers said the unexpected heat wave was down to strong westerly winds stopping cooling sea breezes from developing.
"Temperatures like this are not particularly unusual for this time of year; it's more the length of how long they're sticking around," he said.
"Generally in October we do get these anomalous days because it's a shoulder season with winter and summer fighting against each other."
On the coast, the temperatures were tipped to remain around 32-33 degrees on Monday and 30-31 on Tuesday, Mr Meyers said, before a change on Wednesday.
Warmer than average spring conditions were expected as part of El Nino, Mr Meyers said, but it was hard to say what it would mean for summer temperatures as the weather phenomena's effects tendered to diminish in summer.
Mr Meyers said Canberrans could look forward to warmer nights with averages of about 12 degrees this week, after below average minimum temperatures in September.
The heat brought waves of smartphone-snapping tourists to Floriade, with the combination of the long weekend and the warm weather creating one of the spring festival's biggest weekends yet.
While punters vented on social media about the lack of parking and the sluggish bus system, the school holiday fun is expected to continue on Monday with gnome painting, reptile shows and activities with Cricket ACT.
Beach-goers and holiday-makers aren't the only ones closely watching weather forecasts.
NSW Rural Fire Service Mulloon Brigade captain Kathleen Harvey said firefighters looked to the Bureau of Meteorology to plan for the season.
"We also look at the local area, some have had more rain, but the records so far in our area suggest things are reasonably dry so we expect it to be bad," she said.
Mr Meyers said increasing northerly winds over the start of the week would mean a higher fire danger and a change tipped for Wednesday could also be bad for firies with rain unlikely until the end of the week.
While the warm weather may have made fundraising at Kingston's Old Bus Depot Markets a pleasant Sunday afternoon activity for Ms Harvey and her fellow RFS members, the conditions aren't ideal for firefighting.
Ms Harvey said the brigade, based between Bungendore and Braidwood, had already been called out to several fires before the fire season began last Thursday, October 1.
"They were mainly burns that got a little bit out of hand and took landholders by surprise," she said.
"The rain has certainly made the grass grow a bit more; if things dry off quickly there will be a lot of fuel around and the weather conditions to support it."
Ms Harvey urged landowners to prepare their properties now for the fire season and decide what to do in the event of a fire.
- with Katie Burgess.
