Canberra has been battered by bushfires and hail storms, and temperatures in the city on Friday soared to 41 degrees Celsius.

A major bushfire is still burning out of control in the Namadgi National Park to Canberra's south — prompting a state of emergency — and a haze of smoke has once again fallen over the national capital.

But despite this, the Brumbies are planning to kick off their Super Rugby 2020 season tonight against the Queensland Reds at Canberra Stadium, bringing some short-term relief to local fans.

The Brumbies have already spoken of wanting to do their bit for the ACT and surrounding regions by getting onto the field and starting the Super Rugby season well, hoping that it might provide even just some temporary joy to a region that has had a hard time of it of late.

Brumbies fans had been looking forward to even some reprieve from Canberra's recent weather events. ( AAP: Lukas Coch )

But with temperatures likely to still be 39C by kick-off at 7:15pm, World Rugby's existing heat policy will almost certainly see players taking a two-minute drinks break around the 20-minute mark of each half.

These policies have been used regularly in the early part of the Super Rugby season in recent years, most notably in late-March last year, when the Reds and Brumbies sweltered in Brisbane in temps in the mid-30s, coupled with very high humidity.

Both the Brumbies and Reds took advantage of drinks breaks during their pre-season trial matches last week, and all professional football organisations these days preach and practice good hydration methods during pre-season training over the inevitably hot Australian summer.

Of course, this is not just isolated to Australia. Temperatures regularly hover near 40C in South Africa and Argentina, and this weekend's Super Rugby games in Durban and Buenos Aires are both expected to be played during a relative humidity of about 70 per cent.

Smoke is the bigger concern

The bushfire burning in Namadgi National Park has cast smoke across Canberra. ( Supplied: Markus Dirnberger )

But while the expected heat on its own is unlikely to prevent the game going ahead, the possibility of smoke impacting the game is very real.

The smoke blowing over the ACT from the Orroral Valley fire within Namadgi National Park poses a genuine threat to the air quality for this match.

Already this summer in Canberra, both the Brumbies and the Canberra Raiders were forced to temporarily move their training bases because of the hazardous air quality from bushfires around NSW.

A Big Bash League cricket match had to be abandoned when smoke from the South Coast fires engulfed Manuka Oval.

Some Australian Baseball League matches were suspended and even cancelled, while a whole series in Canberra was cancelled ahead of time because of the expected poor air quality in the first week of January.

Canberra United postponed a W-League football match, and the Canberra Capitals did the same for a Women's National Basketball League match when smoke filled the AIS Arena.

SANZAAR, the partnership governing body which oversees the Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship competitions in southern hemisphere, released their newly-adopted Air Quality Guidelines this week.

The guidelines will ensure informed, multi-faceted decisions involving numerous factors, including real-time measurement of particulate matter levels at the match venue, regional monitoring of the Air Quality Index and of environmental factors at the match venue, as well as monitoring weather forecasts and the players themselves.

If the measurements reach the appropriate levels, play can be suspended momentarily and the game abandoned if need be.

How the game will change

Alan Ala'alatoa, captain of the Brumbies. ( Supplied: Rugby Australia )

Brumbies captain Allan Ala'alatoa yesterday admitted his side had not spoken much about the possibility of smoke impacts, instead focussing on preparing to play.

"You read a few articles about it, but I'm not too sure what's going to happen," Ala'alatoa said.

But Queensland captain Liam Wright conceded the prospect of smoke engulfing Canberra Stadium would affect the way they approached the match.

"If the wind changes direction and the smoke comes onto us, there's different rulings about who's ahead before or after half time, so we've got to go out of the gates firing," Wright said.

Should the players be forced from the field before half time, SANZAAR said the match would be considered a draw.

If the match is interrupted after the break, the score at the time will stand.

A half time lead has never been so important.