Matt Moran says kids cook in cars

Celebrity chef Matt Moran has equated leaving your child in a car to putting them in an oven - and has proved the potential danger by cooking raw lamb in a parked SUV.

"5000 kids are being left in cars every year," Moran said in a PSA video titled The Unconventional Oven.

"As a father I was absolutely gobsmacked, I couldn't believe it, and I think Australia needs to know it is not safe at any point in time to leave a kid in a car - it is like an oven."

In the video, the Opera Bar chef invites guests to what they believe is the unveiling of a new fast-cooking oven.

"This oven heats up in minutes, it stays consistently hot, it produces amazing results and it maintains a perfect temperature throughout," Moran told the audience.

Moran walks towards an SUV parked at Bondi Beach and retrieves an overcooked piece of lamb, much to the audience's confusion.

A time-lapse video then shows the meat cooking in just over an hour, with the vehicle reaching a maximum temperature of 72.5C.

Kidsafe spokeswoman Kelly Wilson said parents need to understand children should not be left in cars as conditions can change rapidly and to extremes.

"The temperature inside a car can be 20 to 30 degrees hotter than the outside temperature, so we in fact don't need super hot days for children to be affected," Wilson told AAP.

"It really takes only a short period of time for a car to heat up and then for a child or a baby to overheat.