[2] During the heat wave, fifty separate locations set various records for consecutive, highest daytime and overnight temperatures.

The exceptional heat wave was caused by a slow-moving high-pressure system that settled over the Tasman Sea, with a combination of an intense tropical low located off the North West Australian coast and a monsoon trough over Northern Australia, which produced ideal conditions for hot tropical air to be directed down over southeastern Australia.

The conditions were very similar to the heat wave experienced in early January 1939, which killed 438 people and precipitated the Black Friday bushfires of 1939.

Fires were also started in the Australian Alps by lightning strikes from dry thunderstorms in north-east Victoria and south-east New South Wales.

[31][32] The tail end of the heat wave also precipitated the Black Saturday bushfires, in which 173 people died, 414 injured and 2,029 houses destroyed at various locations across the state.

[citation needed] A chart of the variation of maximum and minimum daily temperatures, through the year, for Melbourne[35] was prepared from observations between May 1855 and August 2006.

[citation needed] The outage occurred only an hour after the National Electricity Market Management Company (NEMMCO) issued a statement saying load shedding was ending and power had been restored.

[38] On the 30th, all public transport in the city was free as the government admitted responsibility for failing to provide adequate infrastructure elements to cope with the heat, as well as long-standing issues with underfunding.

[46] After these retirements and an intensification in the heat, the organisers responded by closing the roof and allowing players longer breaks and icepacks.

[47] Commercial news sources vary widely at the number of fatalities, some report only 2 deaths, while others speculate that the toll may ultimately be higher.

Fifty-seven deaths were suspected to have occurred in South Australia and 33 in Victoria,[47] however authorities preferred to wait for coronial reports before confirming how many were directly attributable to the heat wave.

Hospitals and funeral homes were relied upon to provide temporary storage of corpses, even before the deaths associated with the Black Saturday bushfires created additional demand for mortuary space.

[49] Throughout the heat wave, thousands of people, many of them elderly, were confirmed to have been treated by ambulance officers and placed in hospitals for heat-related illnesses in Victoria and South Australia.

[citation needed] According to a Monash University study of funeral notices, more than 200 people died as a result of the heat wave.