Environment Minister Greg Hunt was given a thorough briefing about the effects of climate change on Australia's weather patterns three weeks before he told a BBC radio interview he had sourced information on bushfires and global warming from Wikipedia.

Confidential Bureau of Meteorology briefings, obtained by Fairfax Media through freedom-of-information laws, show senior officials warned Mr Hunt that the extreme heat that baked Australia in 2013 was "unprecedented" before Mr Hunt downplayed any link between fires and climate change in an interview with the BBC's Newshour in October last year.

The initial briefings show officials advised Mr Hunt that recent extreme heat was consistent with "a pattern of global warming", while subsequent advice in November said climate change had increased the odds of "severe weather conducive to severe bushfires occurring".

The documents shatter claims made by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who last year dismissed any link between global warming and bushfires, and show the extent to which the government has been advised of climate change's influence on recent extreme weather in Australia.