Australia fires: record-breaking temperatures fuel bushfires across the country

Temperatures top 40C in Victoria's north, up to 11 properties hit by fire in South Australia and NSW and Tasmania face difficult conditions

Record-breaking spring temperatures helped spark and fan bushfires across the country on Thursday.

In Victoria, 100km/h winds fanned more than 60 fires as an unprecedented heatwave moved north to south, drawing comparisons with the "worst conditions you'd see in February or March" from the state's emergency services minister, Lisa Neville.