As more than 40,000 visitors flocked to Sydney on Sunday, it was a scorcher on and off the football field.
Temperatures climbed to 34 degrees at Sydney Olympic Park ahead of the NRL grand final while the wider NSW coast enjoyed a taste of summer for the long weekend.
A forecast maximum of 35 was reached just before 2pm at Sydney airport, with central Sydney balmy by comparison at 33.8 degrees.
Tristan Meyers, a meteorologist at Fairfax Media-owned Weatherzone, said westerly winds held out the sea breeze and allowed Sydney to swelter.
The high temperatures were almost matched outside the Sydney basin, where temperatures peaked at 34 degrees in Gosford and 34.7 at Cooranbong, at Lake Macquarie near Newcastle.
Spots at Bondi Beach were highly coveted well into the afternoon, as thousands flocked to the sand to take advantage of the unseasonable warmth.
The warm weather will continue until at least Tuesday, when a cool change is expected to sweep the city.
"We're actually in the middle of a fairly long warm spell," Mr Meyers said. "We will see temperatures continue to be this high until at least Tuesday. Wednesday, western parts of Sydney could also reach above 30 degrees, but we'll see a southerly change come in the morning, so eastern parts of Sydney will cool down nicely.
"Monday is probably going to be hotter for western Sydney, similarly for Tuesday. We'll get a sea breeze, so it will keep temperatures down along the beaches and in the east."
