Fires in Queensland have kept crews on the move after a scorching weekend pushed temperatures higher and triggered local fire bans.
In NSW, an emergency warning was issued but later downgraded for a large grass fire near Tabulam in the state's north as firefighters and water bombers worked to bring it under control.
Around a dozen bushfire jobs remain active across Queensland, mainly in the southeast and southwest.
"We're pretty much on high alert as we head into the main part of our fire season," a Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokesperson told AAP on Monday.
The state's bushfire season typically kicks off in late August and runs through to November.
Firefighters warn that without decent rain, this year could resemble the horror 2019–20 season, when an exceptionally dry lead-up and extreme September winds drove unprecedented bushfire danger across southeast Queensland.
By the end of that season, a state of fire emergency had been declared across much of Queensland, about 6.6 million hectares had burned and dozens of homes and other buildings had been destroyed.
Fires sparked around the state on the weekend after an unseasonably warm spring start, with Brisbane recording its hottest September day since 2019 - 34.4C - on Sunday.
Coastal areas from Gladstone to the Gold Coast came a few degrees shy of breaking the record for the state's highest recorded temperatures for the start of spring.
The early season fires and sizzling temperatures are in line with a very warm, and likely very dry, spring start, with much of Australia on track for above‑average daytime and evening temperatures through to at least December, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
"We're expecting a very warm spring and summer, with temperatures in the top 20 per cent of all records and some areas pushing into the top 10 per cent," the bureau's Jonathon Howe told AAP.
"That means not just a bit above average, but unusually warm conditions compared to what people normally expect at this time of year."
He said a strengthening El Niño, combined with unusually warm oceans, was "locking in very warm temperatures right across the country", particularly for the east, even as rainfall remained harder to predict.
Below-average rainfall has already increased bushfire potential across northeast and eastern Tasmania, as well as parts of Victoria, the Australian and New Zealand National Council for fire and emergency services warned.
Dry conditions were also contributing to elevated fire risk across parts of Western Australia, it said.
"The variety of risk factors across different regions reinforces the need for communities to understand their local conditions and prepare early," the council's Rob Webb said.
Environmental advocates said the early season emergencies were a warning sign of a worsening climate, calling on the federal government to stop approving new coal and gas projects.
Australians are already on the frontline of the climate crisis as fires flare and temperatures spike, it said.
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