Australians celebrated Christmas Day with a mixture of weather, as some states experienced unseasonally chilly conditions and others sweltering heat.

People in Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart began the day in mild conditions, with drizzle and winds expected later.

Melbourne was expecting a top of 22C, Hobart was expected to hit 21C and Sydney was set to experience an unseasonally low top of 23C.

But the lack of sun didn’t deter revellers from their backyard barbecues or heading down to the beach for their Christmas swim.

A surfer wearing a Christmas hat rides a wave at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters

The heat was expected to return to Melbourne on Tuesday, in time for the expected large crowd at the Boxing Day Test, with the city set to hit a maximum of 29C.

Meanwhile, Queenslanders endured a Christmas Day scorcher as western parts of the state sweated it out at 45C while Brisbane sizzled above 36C.

In one of the hottest Christmas days on record, the recorded temperature hit 44.9C in the outback town of Birdsville at 1.49pm.

The mercury went into the 40s in many other western, central and northern regions with Windorah (44.5C), Charleville (43C), Winton (42.3C), Julia Creek (42.2C) and Longreach (42.2C) among the hottest.

Even the southern town of St George, near the New South Wales border, peaked at 43.7C.

Brisbane reached 36.2C by 2pm as families endured the hottest day of the month.

It was also very hot in Queensland’s other south-eastern cities with Gold Coast, Ipswich and Logan all reaching 36C and parts of the sunshine coast recording 34C.

Inland parts of the sunshine state were patiently waiting for a late-afternoon reprieve with thunderstorms forecast to hit.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a storm warning for the Maranoa, Warrego, Darling Downs and Granite Belt regions which had some of the highest temperatures.

Damaging winds and heavy rain were scheduled to hit the inland areas from mid-afternoon while a sea breeze was predicted for the south-east.

Severe thunderstorms were also expected on Boxing Day.



Adelaide on Monday was tipped for blue skies and temperatures up to 29C while Perth was expecting a sunny top of 33C.

The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, helped serve food at Sydney’s Wayside Chapel and joined the street party with free food and festivities. He was lured on to the dance floor for a brief boogie.

Malcolm Turnbull serves meals during the Wayside Chapel’s Christmas lunch in Kings Cross, Sydney. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Turnbull thanked volunteers and posed for selfies at the event, which serves up about 1,000 meals for Sydney’s less fortunate.

“Merry Christmas, it’s wonderful to be here with you all. I want to thank in particular all the volunteers – the people who work at the Wayside, it is a great exercise in practical, unconditional love,” Turnbull told the crowd.

The Christmas celebration, which is now in its 14th year, brings together people who may be struggling with problems such as homelessness or addiction to enjoy the day with other members of the community.

Churches were expecting thousands to attend services across the country, with Australia’s leading Catholic saying the year’s end united people in their need for hope.

“For people of faith you might say it’s been an annus horribilis,” the Catholic archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, said in a statement on Friday. “But the Christmas story insists there is a star in the dark sky, light amidst the fears and failures. Christmas speaks of new hope.”

He said young people were not naive to the shameful chapters in the church’s past but want to help it move forward.

The Anglican primate of Australia and archbishop of Melbourne, Philip Freier, said there was “widespread mistrust and dissatisfaction” in Australia and more suffering than there should be.

“Yet, in the worst times and worst of situations, salvation is at hand through God’s precious gift of his son, Jesus Christ,” he said.

