Most of Australia has shivered through sub-zero temperatures, severe frost and snowfall this weekend, but the worst may be over according to forecasters who expect a “mild” winter.

Temperatures in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Hobart and even Brisbane hit single digits on Saturday, with frost settling in across the nation.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Craig Burke told The New Daily the particularly cold weekend for the south-east of Australia was due to a slow-moving, high-pressure system.

“It’s allowed for very cold, clear nights to be established, and quite dry air has allowed the night time temperatures to be very cold,” Mr Burke said.

But before you bury your head under the doona for the rest of the season, Mr Burke said Sunday morning would be the last of widespread cold mornings.

“We can expect widespread frost tomorrow [Sunday], but will only receive a light frost on Monday. It’s not going to be quite as cold,” he said.

The meteorologist also said a dry winter was forecast for southern Australia, following an uncommonly dry June.

“Temperatures over the next three months will broadly be expected to be above average over Australia and the night time temperatures above average in the far east and west.”

Melbourne residents awoke to the chilliest morning in two years, with the mercury dipping to 1.1 degrees Celsius on Saturday.

Those brave enough to get out of bed found frost-dusted gardens, opaque car windows and the occasional icicle at the start of the new month.

https://twitter.com/davidbrewster/status/880900793590845444

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Dean Stewart told The New Daily a cold front had been moving across the state since Thursday, but cloud cover and wind behind the front protected the city until Friday night.

“But with light wind, it was the perfect recipe for a cold night and the cold air is still hanging over the state today even through there’s plenty of sunshine,” Mr Stewart said Saturday afternoon.

Mr Stewart said between 6.30am and 8am Saturday was the coldest morning in Melbourne since July 19, 2014, when temperatures of 0.6 degrees were recorded.

“After today there will be more cloud cover and wind … We can expect milder nights this week.”

Other teeth-chattering lows across the north-east part of the state included -7.9 at Mount Hotham, -6.9C in Rutherglen, -6.6C in Wangaratta and -2C in Essendon.

Residents in Sydney didn’t fare much better than their Melbourne rivals with a low of 3C in the city on Saturday and 8C on the coast.

Campbelltown bore the worst of the cold snap, with 0C temperatures on Saturday.

Even Queensland couldn’t escape single-digit temperatures, with Brisbane recording a low of 9C on Saturday and 8C on Sunday – just below the June average.

But it’s hard to have much sympathy when the temperature reached a sunny 20C by the afternoon with a forecast for above 20-plus temperatures for the remainder of the week.

Perhaps the greatest sufferers were those in the country’s capital, enduring a record low of -7C overnight Saturday in Canberra.

Lows of -6C are forecast on Saturday and Sunday, which would make it Canberra’s coldest pair of weekend mornings since 1997.

“The last time Canberra experienced a weekend with mornings this cold, John Howard was in the first term as Prime Minister … and the film The Castle had just been released,” Weatherzone expert Ben Domensino Domensino said.

It’s expected the gauge will climb back to -4C on Monday morning.

After a mild start to the season, Tasmania received its first snowfall on Thursday.

A light blanket of snow settled on Cradle Mountain National Park and videos emerged showing a joey Tasmanian devil catching snowflakes.

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