Sydney has sweltered through its hottest day in almost eighty years with the mercury in Penrith hitting 47.3C.
Much of Sydney reached it's peak temperature around 3pm on Sunday, with the city's west bearing the brunt of the heat.
Richmond reached 46.3C just after 2.30pm while the temperature in Bankstown broke 45C.
A severe fire danger rating was issued for the greater Sydney region while much of the rest of the state was put on a "very high" rating.
Total fire bans were put in place for Sydney and the Hunter region.
The NSW Rural Fire Service warned residents to prepare their bushfire plans. If people are considering leaving their homes they should "leave early", the RFS said.
Temperatures hit 43.4 degrees Celsius at Sydney's Observatory Hill just after 1pm.
The Bureau of Meteorology initially declared Penrith's scorching temperature as the hottest in Sydney's history but later clarified that Richmond still held the record high.
The Old Richmond Station set the record with 47.8C in 1939.
As temperatures soared across the state, thousands of people were left without power, according to electricity provider Ausgrid.
Power outages across the NSW Central Coast affected more than 4,000 properties, while almost 3,000 properties were left without power throughout Sydney.
An Ausgrid spokeswoman said while additional load on the network from the high temperatures had contributed to some of the outages, there were several other factors at play.
