South Australia has sweltered through a scorcher, with temperatures in some regional centres hitting the mid-40s.
A scrub fire north of Adelaide also threatened one property as the hot weather and strong winds meant extreme fire conditions were declared in seven SA districts on Wednesday.
The Country Fire Service said a property at One Tree Hill was saved as fire crews battled the blaze which was contained to just five hectares.
It took more than 50 firefighters about 30 minutes to bring it under control with the help of water bombing aircraft.
The fire came as Adelaide had a top of 39.4C while the mercury hit 42.6C in the city's northern suburbs.
It was even hotter in regional centres: Marree reached 45.5C, Oodnadatta 44.8C, Moomba 44.6C and Port Augusta 44.3C.
As well as the One Tree Hill fire, the CFS responded to a grassfire near Mannum, east of Adelaide and a number of other minor incidents.
A cool change moved across much of the state by Wednesday afternoon and forecast temperatures in most areas are expected to slip back into the 20s for Thursday.
