With another cold front on the way, the end of the week looks set to bring more challenging conditions to fire grounds in Australia's south-east.

Key points: Fire danger is set to ramp up again at the end of this week, with hot weather forecast for SA, the ACT, NSW and Victoria

Fire danger is set to ramp up again at the end of this week, with hot weather forecast for SA, the ACT, NSW and Victoria Rain is expected to fall over parts of WA, and it's hoped a hot air mass over the centre will begin to disperse

Rain is expected to fall over parts of WA, and it's hoped a hot air mass over the centre will begin to disperse More promising is the Indian Ocean Dipole's return to neutrality, but forecasts don't show any strong trend towards rain

The front, currently impacting Western Australia's south-west coast, will drag down hot air from the centre as it moves across the country, increasing temperatures and fire danger in the south-east into the weekend.

There is also likely to be rainfall in northern and central WA, and the potential for some of the hot air mass that has been lurking over central Australia for the past few months to be cleared out.

Early next week there is a chance of a sprinkling of rain over the east coast, but the coast is only tipped to receive about 10 millimetres, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

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"Ten millimetres isn't a particularly significant amount of rainfall, so it is unlikely to do any significant contribution in terms of easing the conditions," senior climatologist Agata Imielska said.

"Right now there isn't really any significant rainfall on the forecast that would either ease the fires or the drought conditions we've been experiencing for quite some time."

The bad news

The current reprieve from the worst of the heatwave and fire conditions in the south-east will be short.

The west has gotten the heat first with catastrophic fire danger forecast for the Goldfields region on Thursday and temperatures reaching well over 40C in the state's south-east.

South Australia will be next, with six districts expected to experience extreme fire danger conditions on Friday.

Adelaide is forecast to reach 42C on Friday, while Bordertown, in the state's south-east, is also set to peak at 42C.

Meanwhile, in the state's north, Oodnadatta is forecast to get up to 47C.

But the heat is not forecast to linger long, with the temperature in Adelaide expected to plummet to a maximum of 25C on Saturday.

Southern and eastern Victoria are also expected to be hot on Friday, and the heat will extend into Saturday for the north-west of the state.

The mercury will push 39C in Bairnsdale, while Mallacoota, in fire-ravaged East Gippsland, will hit 41C on Saturday.

Saturday will also bring dangerous conditions for NSW, with a wind change coming up the coast in much the same way as the change that came through on New Years Eve.

The NSW Rural Fire Service has declared a tourist leave zone along the South Coast, from the Victorian border to Batemans Bay.

The NSW RFS declared a "tourist leave zone" between Batemans Bay and the northern edge of the Victorian border. ( Supplied: NSW Rural Fire Service )

Sydney city is forecast to miss out on the worst of the heat, but Penrith, in Western Sydney, is forecast to get up to 45C on Saturday.

Canberra is expected to swelter through a 42C day on Saturday.

The good news

It is still a long way our so don't get your hopes up too much but there is rain forecast for the south east-early next week. Bigger totals are expected for Western Australia over the next few days. ( Supplied: Bureau of Meteorology )

Luke Huntington, duty forecaster at the BOM in WA, said northern Australia is expected to get their usual showers and thunderstorms over the next few days, with totals increasing inland on Friday and into Saturday.

"We will see increased moisture from just offshore from the Kimberley Coast," Mr Huntington said.

"That'll be dragged along the mainland later in the week.

"It looks like on the Saturday there will be a rain band stretching from the Kimberly right through until the Eucla region and that'll cool the air through that region."

There is also a cold air mass expected to move over the south of the state on Friday, which will get pushed up into central parts of the state by a strong ridge of high pressure with south-easterly winds.

Mr Huntington said that should also help to flush out the hot air.

"Without that hot air in that region we are unlikely to see any of those really hot temperatures … at least for the next couple of weeks, before that hot air could build up once again."

It is not looking like NSW, SA or Queensland will get that sort of reprieve, but at this point something is better than nothing — and there is other good news.

IOD finally backing off

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The last year has been hounded by one of the strongest positive Indian Ocean Dipoles (IOD) on record, but it returned to neutral territory this week.

Usually the IOD breaks down as the monsoon approaches the Northern Territory in early December, but better late than never.

"[The return to neutrality] will contribute to less of a warm air mass over the state," Mr Huntington said.

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"With that breaking down, we typically get the increased rainfall and perhaps the monsoon trough eventually beginning to form over the northern part of the state."

Despite the monsoon still not having begun, things are starting to look decidedly more tropical up north.

"Some of the guidance is going for increased rainfall over that northern part of [Western Australia] and perhaps a tropical low may form over the weekend and into early next week," he said.

"We may also see an increased risk of a tropical cyclone — at this stage it's pretty uncertain, so we'll just have to wait and see."

With the positive IOD gone and Australia's other major climate drivers also forecast to remain neutral, the rainfall outlook over the next few months does not show any strong trend towards wetter or drier conditions.