Summer is set to be drier and hotter than usual on Australia's east coast, cooler in the far southwest and wetter in Tasmania and parts of WA's mining country.
But the national weather agency says the chances of a warmer or drier than normal summer season are roughly equal over the rest of the country.
Weather models released on Wednesday by the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) show the chances of maximum temperatures exceeding the long-term average this summer are greater than 60 per cent over eastern Australia.
The odds increase to 70 per cent in Cape York Peninsula and southeast Queensland.
But cooler days are more than likely in southeast West Australia.
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Australians have already endured their hottest January, hottest summer and hottest single day ever in 2013.
BoM's Lynette Bettio said the country is still on track for its hottest calendar year to date.
"Preliminary results indicate this calendar year is likely to be the hottest on record, but of course we won't know until those final figures are in in January," she told AAP.
Below-average rainfall is forecast for much of northeast Australia, particularly eastern Queensland and northeast NSW.
However, Tasmania and parts of the Pilbara and Gascoyne in West Australia could cop a soaking with a 60 per cent chance of exceeding the median rainfall from December to February.
