An El Nino year and global warming combined to give Australia its hottest autumn on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

The mean temperature around the country for March, April and May was 1.86°C above the average.

The previous warmest autumn was 1.64°C above average in 2005.

Queensland, NSW, Victoria and the NT each reported their warmest autumn on record.

The bureau says the autumn national mean temperature anomaly was “the largest departure from average for any calendar season since national temperature records began in 1910”.

Climate Monitoring Manager Karl Braganza told insuranceNEWS.com.au the record temperatures are due to global warming.

He says that while the recent El Nino is a natural driver of warmer-than-normal autumn temperatures it was not responsible for the record temperatures.

“Without climate change you would see normal warmer-than-average temperatures during an El Nino, but we’re getting temperatures we’ve never seen before,” Dr Braganza said.

He says global warming means events like the coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef are happening more frequently.

It has prompted the Climate Council to renew calls to replace fossil fuels with renewables in its report Abnormal Autumn 2016.

“The abnormally warm temperatures of autumn 2016 add to the overwhelming evidence for human-driven climate change,” said the report.

“Coal-fired power stations must be phased out and renewable energy scaled up rapidly to meet the challenge of climate change.”

Sydney was particularly affected by the autumn heat, with the average maximum temperature for the first half of May 24.3°C, almost 5°C above the monthly average.

Only two weeks before winter, Sydney temperatures reached 28.2°C, warmer than the average maximum for January.