Officials warned, however, that short, intense thunderstorms could lead to flash flooding, while lightning brought the risk of new fires being ignited.
All of the early scheduled matches on the outside courts at Melbourne Park got under way on time while several matches previously suspended due to the poor air quality or the rainfall were rescheduled to resume play later on Thursday.
Organisers of the year’s first Grand Slam said practice had been suspended at Melbourne Park until 0000 GMT and qualifiers would not get underway until 0200 GMT.
Forecasts of rain expected to bring some respite but risk of landslides and water pollution grows, officials say. Meanwhile, a top climatologist says Australia could become so dry that its residents could become "climate refugees."
Australia's bushfires which have been raging through the country since September have destroyed more than 2,100 homes and killed dozens.
The Animal Rescue Craft Guild has supplied thousands of rescue groups around the country with protective pouches and blankets to help wildlife affected by Australia's bushfires.
Bushfires took out two substations and transmission lines, prompting New South Wales to warn that an area home to almost eight million people and the nation's largest city Sydney could experience rolling blackouts.
Townpeople in Cobargo, New South Wales yell at Morrison, make obscene gestures, and call him an "idiot" to criticise him for lack of equipment to deal with bushfires in town.
One volunteer firefighter was killed and two suffered burn injuries after their truck rolled over when it was hit by extreme winds amid raging bushfires in New South Wales. Ten other firefighters have been killed so far this fire season.
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