An eight-month-old baby and aged care residents were among several people who had to be rescued from broken-down lifts across Sydney's east during an hour-long power outage that hit 45,000 homes and businesses.
A faulty underground cable interrupted supply shortly before 11.30am on Thursday to more than a dozen suburbs, including Randwick, Bondi, Coogee, Point Piper and Rose Bay.
The issue was fixed and power restored by 12.30pm, according to Ausgrid.
Emergency crews were called to reports of people trapped in at least six lifts during the outage.
A mother and her eight-month-old baby were rescued from a lift in Kensington, while five people were freed from a building in Bondi Junction, a Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman said in a statement to AAP.
Crews also performed a rescue involving several elderly residents at an aged care home in Randwick.
The Sydney Children's Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick were also reportedly impacted by the power outage.
The Australian Energy Market Operator earlier said it was working "around the clock" to keep the state's energy system secure.
"Even with forecast temperatures in NSW hitting the high 30s today, as at 10:30am there is more than 1,000 MW of energy reserves forecast to be in place to lean on, if required," the agency tweeted on Friday.
Temperatures at Sydney Airport had climbed to 40.1C just before 3.30pm, and nudged 39.4C in the CBD.
A gusty southerly change is forecast for the late afternoon and early evening.
It comes a day after two coal-fired power stations - Liddell in NSW's Hunter Valley and Eraring at Lake Macquarie - reportedly suffered broken generators.
