40s, including 47.3 degrees in western Sydney, making it the second-hottest day in the Sydney Basin on record. Maximum records Last year was especially warm for Australia's daytime temperatures, with average maximums hotter than any year but 2013, coming in at 1.27 degrees above the 1961-90 baseline. Brisbane clocked up its hottest year on record for maximums, while Canberra and Hobart both had one of their top-three warmest years.

For Sydney, it was the second warmest year on record for mean and maximum temperatures, and included its hottest single month, last January. Richmond, to Sydney's north-west, set a record of 15 days above 40 degrees, while Observatory Hill's 12 days above 35 degrees equalled a record set in 1926, the bureau said. Statewide, NSW beat its previous high –also 2013 – by 0.11 degrees with an anomaly for maximums of 1.87 degrees compared with the long-term norm. Queensland broke its record for maximums by slightly more, beating its previous high mark set in 2013 by 0.13 degrees.

Both states beat their previous highs for mean temperatures too, although just narrowly in NSW's case. The heat also brought the second year in a row of mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. The unprecedented back-to-back events resulted in the deaths of about half the region's corals. Victoria's readings were less of a stand-out, with 2017 the sixth-warmest for both mean and maximums. It was, though, the 21st year in a row that both temperature measures were above average. Waters off south-eastern Australia were exceptionally warm in 2017.