Australia's heatwave is shifting north to northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, and the high temperatures are forecast to continue for the coming week.

The Bureau of Meteorology's temperature forecast maps suggest the heatwave will continue for at least the next seven days.

The animated gif above shows forecast temperatures at 5pm AEDT each day of the coming week.

The extreme heat in central Australia saw the weather bureau add new colours to its forecast maps yesterday:

deep purple for 50 degrees Celsius to 52 degrees Celsius; and

deep purple for 50 degrees Celsius to 52 degrees Celsius; and magenta for 52 degrees Celsius to 54 degrees Celsius.

Yesterday, the bureau's forecast maps for Sunday and Monday showed a deep purple area over the South Australian outback.

However, those forecasts have been revised today, with forecast temperatures no longer hitting the purple range.