Australian Weather Bureau

Wild weather lashes South Australia, Victoria, ACT and New South Wales

Exposed areas of Melbourne such as bayside Frankston and Emerald in the Dandenongs have so far been spared extensive damage.

The SES says it's answered around 300 calls for help in the last 24 hours  while the weather bureau says the gales will hit areas across Victoria's southwest, northeast, north central, Wimmera, and west, east and south Gippsland regions.

6.00am Almost 10,000 properties were without power.

ETSA crews are working to restore power at Chain Of Ponds, Cudlee Creek, Inglewood, Kersbrook, Millbrook, and Mount Crawford. Large parts of Tanunda, Andrews Farm and Davoren Park were also without power. The stormy weather also cut power to homes throughout the Adelaide Hills, the northern suburbs and the Barossa Valley.

SES workers had responded to almost a 100 weather-related callouts across South Australia by 10.30pm. 55 of these were in the state's southeast while 25 were in the Adelaide Hills or Adelaide metro area.

The majority of the callouts were either fallen trees, minor flooding or roof damage. Several powerlines have also fallen to the ground.

Dozens of trees are blocking roads in the area, especially south of Penola, after being ripped from the ground by the strong winds.

3.00am A significant cold front near the Lower Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island swept northwestward across central and eastern SA reaching Adelaide by 9pm.

Wind speeds averaging 50-65 km/h with gusts in excess of 90 km/h, had hit near the coast and over higher ground.

Adelaide, Port Lincoln, Kingscote, Maitland, Victor Harbor, Keith and Mount Gambier were all hit by the storm.

The strong winds had earlier brought down trees and branches on many roads, including the Dukes and Riddoch Highways, prompting police to warn motorists in the south east of the State to take extreme caution.

11.54pm

The cold front will be accompanied by rain and 10mm is expected to fall across the state. Looks like tomorrow will be a particularly cold and blustery, wintry day. It will struggle to reach 10 degrees in many parts of the state and  hail and thunder on the forecast as well.

The bureau is warning sheep graziers of a high risk of losses of lambs and sheep exposed to such conditions.