As of late on Monday most, if not all, of the bushfires that have caused so much grief and heartbreak over the past weeks were either out, under control or in the process of being brought under control.

The latter is the case with the Orroral Valley fire that has now been burning to the south of Canberra for over a fortnight and which has posed a significant threat to some suburbs.

If, as predicted, we receive significant falls over the next few days there is every likelihood firefighters and other emergency workers will be able to put this monster to bed.

The best thing of all about our wet week, which has already also replenished farm dams, topped up rainwater tanks and started to refill the reservoirs from which our largest cities draw their water, is it has started to soak the unburnt parts of NSW and the ACT.

As summer draws nearer to its official close just over two weeks from now it will be much harder for lightning, arsonists and acts of misadventure to cause new blazes.

There is cause to hope this may mark the end of what many consider to be the most disastrous fire season in Australia's recorded history, and certainly within living memory.

While it is still too early to say if it also marks the end of the unprecedented drought which created the conditions for the disastrous events we have witnessed, there is reason to be positive on that front as well.

This record and welcome rain was caused by an east coast low; an "extra-tropical cyclone" of the type usually seen during the winter months but also not uncommon in the spring and autumn.

In early June 2007 an east coast low formed off the coast of Newcastle.

It peaked on June 8 with 110 km/h winds, massive waves and torrential rain. The Pasher Bulker, a 40,000-tonne ore carrier, was caught up in the storm and, despite the best efforts of the crew, forced aground.

The massive storm, which was felt along the entire coast of NSW and as far inland as Tamworth, Dubbo and Wagga Wagga, marked the beginning of the end of the millennium drought.

That weather system, like the latest east coast low, was too unpredictable to feature in longer term weather forecasts. Despite the claims that are already starting to appear on social media, this event cannot and should not be cited as proof the science of either meteorology or climate change is "wrong".

The Bureau of Meteorology's experts were able to give ample warning of its approach. The vast majority of the rescues carried out by the SES and emergency service workers over the weekend were of people who had ignored the oft repeated advice not to drive into flood water.

ACT motorists would be well advised to keep the Sydney experience in mind if we receive further heavy falls as the week progresses.

The one thing we cannot afford to do is to waste this very welcome respite from the hot and parched conditions that turned eastern Australia into a tinderbox at the end of last winter.

Now is the time to review, to regroup and to prepare for the next fire season which has the potential, given the impact of climate change, to be just as horrendous as this one.

We cannot afford to be complacent or to wait on the outcome of extended reviews or commissions of inquiry before taking concerted action to ensure we are better prepared next time around.

Much of what needs to be done has been known and debated for many years. We have no time to waste.