Perth maxed out at 39.8 degrees on Monday afternoon as city residents came close to record power demand levels while trying to escape a March hot spell.
The Perth city temperature peaked at 39.8 degrees, just 0.2 degrees below the forecast of 40 degrees. At both Jandakot and the Perth Airport the mercury rose above 40.
The sudden onset of March heat - Sunday also spiked to 39 degrees - had people around the state reaching for the air-conditioning controls and Western Power scouring through the record books.
At 3pm demand across the network topped 4104 megawatts, 170 megawatts above the previous 3pm benchmark.
But Western Power said demand ultimately failed to reach the 4304 megawatt record from February 8, during a heatwave earlier in summer.
Meanwhile Perth was bracing for a hot and potentially sleepless night on Monday.
After temperatures dropped only to 26 degrees on Sunday night, the forecast low for Monday night was 22 degrees.
At 5.50pm the temperature in Perth was still 38.1 degrees.
The temperature will drop quickly on Tuesday with 32 predicted, with a chance of rain for the remaining of the week.
Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are all rated a 40 per cent or higher chance of rain falling.
Tuesday: 32, chance of early shower or storm
Wednesday: 28, possible morning shower
Thursday: 26, partly cloudy
Friday: 26, possible shower or storm
Saturday: 27, possible shower or storm
Sunday: 28, possible shower or storm.