Record December temperatures for Victoria, Ballarat fire uncontrolled

People living near an uncontrolled bushfire at Ballarat were being told to leave their homes as firefighters battled overnight to contain the blaze.

The fire at Melbourne Road in Creswick was still not under control, Vic Emergency said in its update just before midnight.

The fire was travelling north-easterly from Melbourne Road towards Sawmill Road in Springmount.

READ MORE: Fears UK pubs could run out of Guinness

"Don't wait, leaving now is the safest option - conditions may change and get worse very quickly," Vic Emergency said.

"Emergency services may not be able to help you if you decide to stay."

A relief centre had been established at the Doug Lindsay Reserve, Lindsay Park Drive, Creswick to accommodate residents who are impacted.

Authorities across the state have been on alert for the threat of bushfires as temperatures soared on Monday.

Melbourne CBD hit a peak temperature of 38.8 degrees about 6pm before a cool change from western Victoria was expected to envelope the city.

In the Mallee region, Walpeup recorded a top 47.1 degrees, marking its second highest December temperature on record.

READ MORE: Man arrested after allegedly breaking into Melbourne home where 13-year-old girl slept

Earlier in the day Walpeup was one of the hottest places on earth, as the mercury crept past 45 degrees.

Geelong and Ballarat both recorded their highest temperatures for this time of year, reaching 42.3 degrees and 40.8 degrees respectively.

As a reprieve from the heat approached, meteorologists warned the possibility of thunderstorms and dry lightning this evening could spark further fires.

"Also isolated thunderstorm activity developing over western and central parts could result in dry lightning and trigger some fire starts," Michael Efron from the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Multiple grass fires across the state threatened to cause havoc.

Melbourne motorists were alerted to passing smoke across the West Gate Bridge after a grass and scrub fire broke out in bushland beneath the bridge.

Callers to triple zero reported multiple trees on fire near the Bay Trail in Port Melbourne just after 10am, which quickly expanded to encompass three different fires moving in a south-westerly direction.

Nearly 50 firefighters and a water bombing helicopter worked to contain the blazes, which spread both north and south of the West Gate Freeway.

Elsewhere in Victoria, residents in Chetwynd and Powers Creek, in the west Wimmera region were warned to evacuate after a bushfire started at Casterton-Edenhope Road.

Spot fires and embers were starting fires up to 500 metres ahead of the main fire, which was not under control and already impacted private land towards Chetwynd.

The bushfire was travelling in a south-easterly direction, but wind changes were expected to change the route of the fire towards Connewirricoo.

While emergency services feared the expected wind change could cause "dangerous and unpredictable" conditions, the mercury in Melbourne remained slightly cooler than predicted.

"A bit of cloud cover through central and eastern parts of Melbourne has suppressed the temperatures a little bit," the Bureau of Meteorology's Dean Narramore said.

The conditions had been forecasted to be "beyond extreme", with the Country Fire Authority chief declaring Victoria's bush is "ready to burn".

READ MORE: What the weather on Christmas Day is forecast to be in your city

"It will be a nasty day, we need to make sure we are ready," CFA chief executive Jason Heffernan said on Sunday.

"The fuel's been baked, it is dry, [Monday]'s heat and wind mean fuel is even drier."

A large air tanker and 54 other planes and helicopters were in position and prepared for one of the worst fire danger days Victoria has seen in years.

READ MORE: Four Australians hospitalised after suspected cocktail poisoning in Fiji

View gallery

'Several hundred' killed in French territory after Cyclone Chido tears through

There was a total fire ban for most of the state, with an extreme fire danger rating in the central and western districts.

"The fire conditions in those areas will be quite horrendous, those hot dry northerly winds," Heffernan said.

"The bush is ready to burn."

Many schools in those areas were closed.

The dry conditions are comparable to those before the 2020 Black Summer bushfires, with the added fuel of a late harvest.

Residents were told to use the Vic Emergency app and pay attention to the warnings.

Flash flooding warning for Queensland 

Meanwhile, after storms in Brisbane on Saturday the Lord Mayor has a stark warning for south-east Queenslanders: Get ready now or feel the force of Mother Nature set to unleash this summer.

The deluge hit suburbs on the south-side, triggering memories of Brisbane's near-biblical 2022 floods.

Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the ground was already "saturated" from the amount of rain."

Any short sharp storm can trigger flash flooding," he said.

A total of 237 millimetres of rain drenches the city in November, which is double the monthly average.

Forecasters warned it's set to continue.

"The odds are skewed a little bit towards unusually high rainfall this year," Senior Meteorologist, Steve Hadley said.

Rain returned to Queensland yesterday.

From Mackay down to the Gold Coast some parts could get between 10 and 40 mills per day but the Bureau says some patches in South East Queensland could get up to 70 mills again, while some could get get up to 100.

The ground is already wet, so the flash flooding is a possibility.