Data suggests that Australia experienced its hottest day on record this week.

According to preliminary figures evaluated by the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia's average maximum temperature on Tuesday, December 17th was 40.9 degrees. This is the highest average national maximum temperature on record, beating 40.3 degrees from January 7th, 2013.

The national average maximum temperature is calculated by adding up the maximum temperature values from a range of weather stations across the country and averaging them out to get a single figure.

Based on the widespread nature and intensity of this week's heat, it's possible that Tuesday's record could be surpassed on Wednesday and Thursday. However, we probably won't know these result until the following days, when the maximum temperatures have been quality controlled and analysed.

In addition to the national heat record, a number of individual location and state records are also likely to be broken across Australia this week.