As the mercury continues to rise, Dad and Dave Turf owner Graeme Colless has a message for sweltering Sydneysiders going home tonight: you are all soft with no heart.

The turf supply tsar and his team were laying out the new 14,000 square metre surface of St John's Oval at Sydney University today. He had little time for pale-skinned, soft-bellied sooks whingeing about the heat.

The temperature hit 37.3 degrees in Sydney, short of the forecast of 39 degrees, but still the third hottest October day on record.

Large crowds were expected at the city's beaches, as workers sought to take advantage of the start of daylight saving at the weekend.