CRANKY Melburnians have sweated through the city's equal hottest night on record.
As a cool change swept through, citizens were counting the cost in heat exhaustion, soaring air-conditioner usage and power failures.
The temperature eased to an uncomfortable 30.6 degrees at 8.50am yesterday, the highest overnight minimum for 108 years.
The only other known time the minimum stayed over 30 overnight was the 30.6 degrees of February 1, 1902.
Weather bureau duty forecaster Stuart Coombs said the 1902 conditions were similar to Melbourne's last two days, with the hot night sandwiched between two ''scorcher'' days before a cool change.
An Age weather story from Saturday, February 2, 1902, dispenses with the era's usual reserved prose: ''From the very early morning on Friday, when the sun rose through an ominous haze of dust and vapor, right to the end of a close and oppressive day, the heat was truly scorching.''
One difference in the 2010 heatwave is that we have air-conditioners.
According to energy market operator AEMO, Victoria's electricity consumption at 8.30am yesterday hit 8022 megawatts, compared with 5700 megawatts at the same time on a 25-degree day.
Tens of thousands of people throughout the state lost power. In the 24 hours to 4pm yesterday, 30,000 customers of power companies Jemena and United Energy suffered blackouts. All but 1000 - mostly in the south-eastern suburbs - were re-connected last night.
SP AusNet last night also reported 1000 customers without power, mostly in Lilydale, Epping and Eltham; 10,000 were without electricity from 11pm to midnight on Monday.
Powercor, which supplies central and western Victoria, reported 18,000 of its customers had lost power in 24 hours, while Citipower in inner Melbourne reported 1300 customers blacked out.
Ambulance Victoria operations manager Paul Holman said paramedics attended 76 heat-related cases in Melbourne to 6pm yesterday, and 117 on Monday. Most patients were elderly. He said it was ''nearly suicide'' for a 94-year-old man to go for a walk in the eastern suburbs at noon on Monday.
''Had we not got there, there's no doubt he probably would have succumbed.''
Mr Holman said the number of cardiac arrests - four yesterday and seven on Monday - was a dramatic improvement on the average 70 a day during last year's three-day heatwave late in January.
He believes people are starting to look after themselves. ''Last year was the first real heatwave of that type of temperature that people have experienced and I suppose it's a bit of that people have learned their lesson.
''I think they are staying out of the sun, hydrating, and a lot of community and government measures have been put in place to make sure that the elderly are checked on.''
Mr Coombs said there was no sign of a heatwave in the next week. ''We're entering into, broadly speaking, a much milder period of weather over the next week. It's a big relief for everyone.
''In the north of the state it might creep up to the low to mid-30s on occasion but that's a long way short of the 44s and 43s we saw yesterday. Thirty-five will seem a walk in the park for anyone after what they've just had.''
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