The Australian city of Sydney is experiencing its hottest day on record, with temperatures reaching nearly 46C, BBC News reported.

A temperature of 45.8C was recorded at Observatory Hill in the city at 14:55 local time (01:55 GMT).

Some areas in the wider Sydney region were even hotter, with the town of Penrith, to the west, registering a temperature of 46.5C.

Firefighters are still battling dozens of wildfires sparked by the intense heat in New South Wales and Victoria.

The small town of Licola in eastern Victoria is reported to have been cut off by a 44,500-hectare fire, as its sole access road is blocked.

Australia faces wildfires each year as temperatures climb. In February 2009, on what has come to be known as Black Saturday, 173 people were killed in fires in the state of Victoria.

The previous recorded high in Sydney was in January 1939, when the thermometer topped 45.3C at Observatory Hill.