Melbourne the coldest city in Australia this morning

Melbourne's bitingly cold temperatures this morning were the chilliest of all the nation's major capital cities.

Across the metropolitan areas there were even cooler temperatures, with Coldstream and Viewbank in the northeast recording a minimum of -0.1 degree. East of the city, Scoresby’s mercury dropped to -0.3.

Parts of Victoria, including Ballarat in the west, also saw frost as the sun came up, creating gorgeous wintry scenes; a perfect photo op for with hands enough to stand the cold.

The wintry chill was thanks to a high-pressure system hovering over the eastern half of Australia, which is keeping rain at bay but creating clear skies at night- the perfect conditions for heat to escape.

Related: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane: Cities hit by freezing cold fronts

Fortunately there will be plenty of blue sky around the state today, with city centre forecast  to reach a sunny top of 15 degrees.

Cloud will begin to build tomorrow, making for slighter more mild mornings of 6 to 7 degrees for the next few days.

Showers are expected to return with the arrival of a front on Saturday, but won’t be nearly as heavy as last week’s downpour.