South Australians are bracing for a week-long heatwave with temperatures set to peak in Adelaide at 42C on Saturday.
The hot blast also has authorities on high alert across the state.
Country Fire Service Chief officer Greg Nettleton says the high temperatures are a concern although winds are not expected to be a serious issue until later in the week.
Adelaide is tipped to reach 37C on Tuesday, 38C on Wednesday, 39C on Thursday and 41C on Friday.
The hot run will give the city an average maximum nine degrees above the long-term norm and its hottest December week in 13 years.
Despite the forecast conditions for Tuesday, total fire bans have been issued for just two districts with the risk rated severe in the northwest pastoral and Flinders.
But Mr Nettleton said the biggest worry for fire crews was the extent of the fire season remaining.
"It's very early in December, we've already had a major fire and until we have decent rainfall we've got a number of months ahead of us," he said on Monday.
Premier Jay Weatherill has urged people living in Adelaide outer suburbs to be wary of the risks posed by fast moving bushfires.
He said those residents should prepare a bushfire survival plan and be ready to act.
"We only need a handful of people to make a really bad decision in the middle of a fire and we could be talking about a handful of deaths," he said.
"That's something we simply cannot contemplate."
The premier also expressed confidence in SA's ability to fight another major blaze after the fire in late November which claimed two lives and burnt through more than 82,000 hectares north of Adelaide.
"If it is the case that we get another bushfire, I'm sure we'll have enough firefighters to respond," he said.
