Tinder-dry conditions in the ACT are as risky as in 2003 when deadly bushfires devastated the nation's capital, authorities warn.
The Southern Australia Seasonal Bushfire Outlook, which covers most of the nation excluding the Northern Territory, forecast an earlier than usual start to a more active season due to warmer and drier than average climate conditions.
In Canberra, "the risk is greater than ever before", ACT Emergency Services Agency commissioner Dominic Lane told reporters on the sidelines of a disaster and emergency management conference in Perth on Thursday.
Fifteen years ago, fires in the ACT killed four people and destroyed nearly 500 properties.
They also produced the first recorded fire-generated tornado, which ripped up trees and roofs off houses.
"Make no mistake in Canberra, we face the same scenario going into this year," Mr Lane said.
"We're asking Canberrans to be bushfire ready."
In NSW, there has already been winter blazes in August amid the worst drought for nearly a century in some areas.
NSW Rural Fire Service communications director Anthony Clark said the risk was higher than usual for a large, forested and heavily populated part of the state from the Queensland border to the Victorian border.
"It's where people live so there are literally millions of people at risk from bushfires this season in NSW," Mr Clark said.
"We haven't seen soil moisture readings like this in around 20 years so it's extremely dry.
"Last month alone, we saw more than 2000 bush and grassfires across NSW."
In Queensland, areas south of Gladstone are very dry and fuel loads are high, the state's Fire and Emergency Services deputy commissioner Doug Smith said.
Firefighters have already responded to 1000 blazes in the past fortnight.
Mr Smith said above normal bushfire activity is expected in areas including Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Kingaroy and Toowoomba.
Victoria can expect a normal bushfire season with the exception of East Gippsland, "which is primed and ready to go" up in flames, the state's Country Fire Authority chief Steve Warrington said.
"For anybody that lives in southeast Australia, you live in one of the worst bushfire-prone areas in the world, so we're telling people, this year we will lose property," Mr Warrington warned.
A warm and dry spring in Western Australia is expected to leave major pockets of the state including the Darling Range, South West and Great Southern at an above average fire risk.
In South Australia, there is above normal fire potential for parts of the Riverlands, Murraylands, and Flinders Ranges.
In Tasmania, only the strip between Orford and St Helens on the east coast is drier than average.
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