In the record-breaking heatwave before Black Saturday in 2009,  the number of cardiac arrests almost tripled with 374 people dying of heat-related causes. About 80 per cent of those deaths were of people aged over 65.

And over the past two summers, more than 800 people have been hospitalised for heat-related conditions.

Fearing that people are not taking summer heat seriously, government agencies have banded together to launch the Survive the Heat campaign and explain the importance of heat health plans that Victoria’s Chief Health Officer will issue when extreme heat is considered dangerous to health.

Despite this week’s mild temperatures in Ballarat, the hottest days of summer are still to come.

“Not everyone realises how seriously the heat can affect their health,” said acting health minister Jenny Mikakos.

Ms Mikakos also reminded the community of the danger of leaving children unattended in cars, with ambulance officers responding to 1696 incidents of people locked in vehicles from September 2016 to August 2017.

“Children can and do die when left alone in cars. We know within five minutes the temperature inside a car can be 20 to 30 degrees higher than outside, even on a hot but cloudy day,” Ms Mikakos said.

Victoria’s chief health officer Professor Charles Guest can issue a heat health alert when the average of daytime maximum and night-time minimum temperatures over a 24 hour period reaches a certain trigger point in one of the Victorian regions.

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The trigger point is tailored to areas of the state depending on the acclimatisation of residents to heat – for example the trigger temperature is higher in Mildura and lower in Melbourne.

“When you have high minimum temperatures overnight there is little respite from the heat and that’s particularly when we will see heat health alerts being issued,” he said.

The heat health alerts also signal to Ambulance Victoria, hospitals and health workers, and government agencies to consider their staffing and other requirements during the heatwave.