SYDNEY (REUTERS) - An outback town near Australia's red-hot centre barely paused on Wednesday (Dec 18) for a heatwave that is gripping the country, fuelling fires and prompting widespread health warnings as heat records tumble.

Oodnadatta, a South Australian town of about 200 people on an old Aboriginal trading route, is forecast to record peak temperatures of 47 deg C on Wednesday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, making it one of the hottest places on Earth.