The weather system that flooded central Australia, prompting Uluru to be evacuated, is about to bring heavy rain and damaging winds to Victoria.
A weaker version of the system will affect western Victoria early on Wednesday morning, delivering rainfall totals that could be as high as 50 millimetres in just six hours and possible flash flooding.
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The rainfall is likely to start around midnight, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with the heaviest falls expected between 3am and 9am.
High rainfall is expected to move down from the north on Thursday and Friday, with possible flash flooding and thunderstorms.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for much of Victoria late on Tuesday afternoon, urging people to be prepared for damaging winds and heavy rainfall in the Central weather district, Mallee, South West, North Central and Wimmera, and for parts of other forecast districts. Winds averaging 50 to 60 km/h, with peak gusts of up to 100 km/h, are expected to develop across Mallee, Wimmera and Southwest districts early Wednesday morning, before extending eastwards during the day.
Melbourne's own rainfall is expected to be low, with the Bureau predicting 1 to 4 millimetres, but there could be heavier rainfall on Thursday across the city - up to 15mm. Wednesday's forecast maximum temperature for Melbourne is 32 degrees.
Victorian towns that could be hit with the heaviest rainfall on Wednesday include places such as Warrnambool, Horsham and Mildura.
While Victoria will get heavy rain and possible thunderstorms over the next couple of days, the burst of weather will be nowhere near as severe as the storm that hit central Australia.
Senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology Chris Godfred said there would be widespread falls in western Victoria on Wednesday of about 15 to 25 millimetres.
Melbourne and the state's north east would get bigger rainfall totals on Thursday rather than Wednesday, he said.
"And there's also going to be an enhanced risk of thunderstorms during Thursday. So that's when you can start looking at higher local falls. And given that it's so humid those higher falls would potentially be 50 millimetres-plus falling very quickly, within the space of an hour or two," he said.
Mr Godfred said humidity levels in Melbourne this week were more akin to sub-tropical humidity levels at places such as Brisbane and Byron Bay.
"What's happened is that on the eastern side of the country the winds have stayed northerly, at a time when there is a lot of moist air in the northern half of the country. So that's basically been brought down across south east Australia," he said.
"It's also the reason why we've had quite hot weather for the past few days," he said.
Mr Godfred said the humid conditions would remain in Melbourne until Friday.
"There will be a cool change that will cross Victoria during Friday... Once we get to about mid-afternoon we'll have drier south-westerly winds pushing across Melbourne, so that will help conditions. So certainly Friday night is going to be a lot more comfortable," he said.
Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley said people could take simple steps so they stayed safe during the summer holidays.
"Victorians and visitors need to stay alert and aware of the risks, with the winds on Wednesday increasing the fire danger particularly for the north, west and central parts of the state, followed by storms and flash flooding moving through the next day," he said.
"Don't camp under trees, extinguish your campfires properly, stay on higher ground and take care while driving on the roads. If you are at home make sure you secure loose items, and you are prepared for any potential power outages," he said.