Records for hottest overnight temperatures across March were broken in all states and territories except Tasmania and Victoria.
Australia has not had a March cooler than average since 2012.
Dr Andrew King, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne, said the 12-month record had been broken by a significant margin, given it was averaged across the entire continent.
“We are warming the planet at a significant rate now and we continue to put record amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere,” he said.
“This is especially concerning as we are still seeing record levels of global greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use.”
Perkins-Kirkpatrick said global heating likely played a role in the record-breaking temperatures but weather patterns had also been conducive to warmth.
“With the exception of Cyclone Alfred, there were calm conditions that were pretty persistent with high pressure systems hanging around,” she said.
“But we’re just getting hotter and hotter. These records are substantial and, yes, climate change. We can’t say for sure that any one season is down to climate change but we know everything is warming consistently.”
On rainfall, Queensland had its third wettest march. Rain amounts were close to average in other areas except Tasmania, which had its 12th driest March since national rainfall records started in 1900.
