Sydneysiders got down to cleaning up their damaged properties on Friday after destructive winds accompanying a sudden cool change broke up the 40-degree heat a day earlier.

Sydney is in for gusty winds on Wednesday, followed by chilly temperatures next week as Winter makes itself known.

Residents across an arc of eastern Australia stretching from Queensland to Tasmania should be on watch for more potentially severe weather this weekend as another winter storm loom, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

The impacts of the monster El Nino in the Pacific are likely to intensify across much of Australia, including worsening drought and an elevated bushfire threat, after conditions that were nullifying its effects suddenly retreated.

Canberrans spent much of Valentine's Day looking for ways to cool off and beat the heat as the capital sizzled.