Wild storms with hail and damaging winds have lashed Victoria at the end of a weekend that also brought record heat in parts of Australia.

Hail the size of golf balls fell over central Victoria, with winds gusts of more than 100km/h at Melbourne Airport and torrential rain late on Sunday.

Thunderstorms unleashed a wild lightning show over Melbourne on Sunday night.

In Bendigo, hail carpeted the ground in white and ranged from 10-cent sized pieces to reports of some as big as golf balls.

The State Emergency Service responded to more than 400 requests for help as hundreds of trees fell and buildings were damaged.

Calls to Victoria’s SES ballooned as the night progressed with more effects from the storms.

The SES said it received 422 requests for assistance from 9am to 9pm, with 230 relating to trees down. There were 123 requests for help with building damage.

The Bureau of Meteorology had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of eastern Victoria on Sunday that could bring large hail, damaging winds and heavy rainfall.

Record hot weekend

Winter heat records were also smashed in Australia on the weekend, with a rare 40 degrees in Western Australia on Sunday afternoon, according to Weatherzone.

The unusually warm August conditions were caused by a large pool of hot air sitting over northern and central Australia.

The weather pattern brought “abnormally high” late-winter temperatures to the Australian interior.

South Australia’s Oodnadatta hit 39.4 degrees on Saturday – 17 degrees above average and the highest winter temperature seen in the state (the previous record was 36.5 degrees in August 1946).

Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia soared to 40.6 degrees, which is the third-highest temperature observed in Australia during winter, said Weatherzone.

In Queensland, temperatures rose as high as 38.4 degrees at Birdsville on Sunday afternoon. It was the state’s second-highest winter temperature on record.

Minimum temperatures also broke records at the weekend.

Moomba’s 23.8 degrees and Oodnadatta’s 23.4 degrees on Sunday morning both beat the previous South Australia minimum record of 22.3 degrees from Oodnadatta on August 23, 1995.

Weatherzone said the unusually hot air would linger over north-western Australia into this week, with potential for more days over 40 degrees between Monday and Thursday.

The hot air will also return to central Australia by Thursday and Friday, with temperatures possibly returning to the high-30s.