It didn't quite make it to freezing on Thursday night, but it was a close shave.

Despite the cold, it is Friday.

Rising from 0.6 degrees the mercury sat at 3.5 degrees at 7am. 

A top of 13 degrees today with clouds and patchy light frost early in the morning. 

A shower or two in the late morning and afternoon. Light winds.

TODAY'S TOP STORY

The City of Ballarat claims more than 2000 defect notices have been issued to NBN Co over the past two years to repair works on council assets. 

Both the council and NBN Co have created new staffing positions purely to monitor the maintenance work being conducted by the heavily criticised NBN contractors across the city. 

Read the full story here

POLICE

Motorists are being reminded not to take on other people's demerit points after 16 people were arrested for dodgy demerit dealings.

Following a four month investigation, officers from Frankston, Mornington and Rosebud attended 20 addresses on Tuesday and arrested 15 people who were interviewed for make false document, obtain financial advantage by deception and make false nomination. 

All were charged and police believe the value of the redirected fines to be worth almost $7000 and 40 demerit points. 

On Wednesday, a 48-year-old Frankston man was also interviewed for making a false document and obtain financial advantage by deception. 

Police allege that the man is responsible for 24 instances of fine redirection worth $7182 and 55 demerit points. 

FIRE

Ballarat fire crews attended a car fire in Buninyong on Thursday night.

Crews attended the scene near the intersection of Midland Highway and Lal Lal Street in Buninyong at 6.15pm.

The Ballarat City crew was told to turn back after the Buninyong appliance brought the blaze under control quickly.

AMBULANCE

Paramedics attended no local trauma incidents overnight.

V/LINE

Regional rail works will affect some Ballarat services on Saturday morning. Click the tweet for more details.

Extra train services will be added for the last of Justin Timberlake's Melbourne concerts.

ON THE AGENDA

The Courier will be there to see Apple fans line-up early for the launch of the iPhone 6 and ask the question "why?". 

Good morning - need a national news snapshot? We have you covered. 

Top terrorist recruiter Mohammad Baryalei is behind an Islamic State plot to murder Australians on video, police say, sparking the nation's biggest ever counter-terrorism raids and prompting warnings of a high alert for a further 18 months. Read more here.

To recap Thurday's terror raids across Sydney and Brisbane, involving 800 police, read more here.  

In less than 24 hours, Scotland will know if it is to be an independent nation or if it will remain a member of the United Kingdom.

"This is no Braveheart patriotism, this is about giving Scots the political power to decide the future of Scotland," 33-year-old Scottish bar owner Jamie Dorran said. Read more here

In sport, Adelaide star Patrick Dangerfield has vehemently denied that the club's decision to sack coach Brenton Sanderson was driven by senior players. More here. 

Also in the AFL, if successful in Federal Court, James Hird will weigh up suing the AFL and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority in a high-stakes decision that would be informed by any fallout reviews of the national drug agency. More here. 

6.50am Ballarat: THE City of Ballarat claims more than 2000 defect notices have been issued to NBN Co over the past two years to repair works on council assets.  Read more. 

6.45am Illawarra: Cordeaux Heights man Robert Nikolovski has been released on $900,000 bail, a day after being charged for the second time over the 2012 killing of Darko Janceski. Read more

6.35am Bendigo: The on again, off again multi-million dollar redevelopment of the Bendigo Tennis Complex is on again thanks to a $2.4 million injection from the Victorian Coalition government. Read more

6.20am Launceston: Tasmanian Greens MPs are outraged that Resources Minister Paul Harriss linked a poster against the state government’s forest policy to conflict diamonds. Read more

6.15am Maitland: Sixty-eight Maitland jobs are at risk if the state government privatises electricity, according to Stop the Sell Off campaign director Adam Kerslake. Read more

6.10am Warrnambool:  The stories and memories of former Fletcher Jones factory workers are to be collected as part of a push to preserve and honour the legacy of the much-loved Warrnambool businessman. Read more

6.05am Newcastle: A Newcastle Jets fan accused of grabbing a police officer’s testicles during a clash between rival fans at an A-League match was acquitted yesterday  and will apply to have his legal costs reimbursed. More here

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