my friends were in Melbourne last week for the tennis - they had booked seats under the shady roof & were still bloody hot. They reported folks on the courts & in the open-air seats were dropping like flies! They decided not to follow their original plan of buying tickets for the next day in the uncovered areas & went touristing & visiting in air-conditioned places!

South-east heatwave hottest in 70 years - Organisers of the Australian Open in Melbourne had to interrupt the tournament for the first time today when temperatures reached 41C.

The women's singles quarter-final was halted for about 45 minutes and the roof on the Rod Laver Arena was closed, under the tournament's extreme heat policy.

Doubles matches on the smallest of the main stadiums were also moved to the covered Hisense Arena.