Shane Bond's outfit will look to extend the longest winning streak in Thunder history when they meet the Brisbane Heat at The Gabba on Monday night.

The Thunder sit atop of the Big Bash League ladder with a 5-1 record, having taken the lead with a seven-run win over the Melbourne Renegades on New Years Day.

In that outing, McAndrew came back into side and took 3-41 off four overs which included the wickets of Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh and Mohammad Nabi.

The fast-bowler is adamant the Thunder can reach a new height leading into the finals series. With eight matches remaining of the regular season, McAndrew says they need tidy the little things and be more ruthless with the ball.

"I definitely think [we can lift to another level]. We spoke about this after the Renegades game, we certainly weren't out best that night - we were rusty with the ball and myself included," McAndrew said.

"We had some good moments but some poor ones in there. For instance, I got Aaron Finch out which was great but then the next two balls to Shaun Marsh were boundaries. So little things like that we can really sharpen up on.

"Every time we seem to get a wicket, we then let the pressure off. We can definitely be more ruthless with the ball and make it more challenging for the batters.

"But a sign of a good team is when you don't play at your best but find ways to win. That's a pretty good sign at the moment. We've certainly got things to improve on at the moment and we know that, that's what we'll continually try to build on across the competition as it gets deeper towards finals."

McAndrew has been named in the Thunders' squad to meet Brisbane, but the visitors will be without New Zealand star Adam Milne as he recovers from an ankle injury.

The Thunder beat Brisbane by four wickets with seven balls to spare at Manuka Oval last month, with Daniel Sams hitting 65 from 25 to spearhead the comeback victory.

"They're a dangerous side Brisbane, they always play an aggressive brand of cricket," McAndrew said.

"Their fans are going to be behind them and we'll have to be at our best to go into the Gabba and take points off them.

"We've had a lot of good games against the Heat over the years, it was an absolute thriller down in Manuka when we chased down their total. Daniel Sams had a night out with the bat there.

"We've learned a lot about them and they, the same for us. That's always the benefit of playing a team for the second time."